Remote browsing session management

ABSTRACT

A browsing process is directed to the generation and management of a browse session at a network computing provider. A client computing device requests a remote browse session instance at a network computing provider. The browse session instance may correspond to requested network content. The network computing provider determines one or more browse configurations. Different browse configurations can be determined for separate portions of the requested network content. The browse configurations may identify a communication protocol and various processing actions. The network computing provider retrieves the requested content through an instantiated network browse session instance, and performs a first set of processing actions to generate a processing result. The processing result may be provided to the client computing device for display, including performing a second set of processing actions on the processing result at the client computing device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/324,741, entitled REMOTE BROWSING SESSION MANAGEMENT, and filed Dec.13, 2011, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can beutilized to exchange information. In a common application, a computingdevice can request content from another computing device via thecommunication network. For example, a user at a personal computingdevice can utilize a software browser application, typically referred toas a browser software application, to request a Web page from a servercomputing device via the Internet. In such embodiments, the usercomputing device can be referred to as a client computing device and theserver computing device can be referred to as a content provider.

With reference to an illustrative example, a requested Web page, ororiginal content, may be associated with a number of additionalresources, such as images or videos, that are to be displayed with theWeb page. In one specific embodiment, the additional resources of theWeb page are identified by a number of embedded resource identifiers,such as uniform resource locators (“URLs”). In turn, software on theclient computing devices, such as a browser software application,typically processes embedded resource identifiers to generate requestsfor the content. Accordingly, in order to satisfy a content request, oneor more content provider s will generally provide client computingdevices data associated with the Web page as well as the data associatedwith the embedded resources.

Once the client computing device obtains the Web page and associatedadditional resources, the content may be processed in a number of stagesby the software browser application or other client computing deviceinterface. For example, and with reference to the above illustration,the software browser application may parse the Web page to processvarious HTML layout information and references to associated resources,may identify and process Cascading Style Sheets (“CSS”) information, mayprocess and instantiate various Javascript code associated with the Webpage, may construct a native object model to represent one or morecomponents of the Web page, and may calculate various layout and displayproperties of the processed content for presentation to a user.

From the perspective of a user utilizing a client computing device, auser experience can be defined in terms of the performance and latenciesassociated with obtaining network content over a communication network,such as obtaining a Web page, processing embedded resource identifiers,generating requests to obtain embedded resources, and rendering contenton the client computing device. Latencies and performance limitations ofany of the above processes may diminish the user experience.Additionally, latencies and inefficiencies may be especially apparent oncomputing devices with limited resources, such as processing power,memory or network connectivity such as netbooks, tablets, smartphones,and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a content delivery environmentincluding a number of client computing devices, content provider, acontent delivery network service provider, and a network computingprovider;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a new browse sessionrequest from a client computing device to a network computing provider;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a request for a networkresource from a network computing provider to a content provider;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of one or more requestscorresponding to one or more embedded resources from a network computingprovider to a content provider and content delivery network;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of browse session data anduser interaction data between a network computing provider and clientcomputing device;

FIG. 6A is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of an additional new browsesession request from a client computing device to a network computingprovider;

FIG. 6B is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a persistent browsesession initialized by one client computing device and resumed by adifferent client computing device;

FIG. 6C is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a co-browsing sessionbetween multiple client computing devices and a network computingprovider;

FIG. 7A is a user interface diagram depicting an illustrative browserinterface and display of browse session content;

FIG. 7B is a user interface diagram depicting an illustrative browserinterface and display of a network resource with two portions processedaccording to two browsing configurations;

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting illustrative browser content processingactions as a series of processing subsystems;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrative of a new browse session routineimplemented by network computing provider;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrative of a client new browse sessioninteraction routine implemented by a client computing device;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrative of a process user interactionroutine implemented by a client computing device;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrative of a browsing configurationdetermination routine implemented by a network computing provider;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for processing anetwork resource according to multiple browsing configurations,implemented by a client computing device; and

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for processing aco-browsing routine according to multiple browsing configurations,implemented by a network computing provider.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, the present disclosure is directed to thegeneration and management of a remote application session between clientcomputing devices and content provider s in conjunction with a networkcomputing provider. Specifically, aspects of the disclosure will bedescribed with regard to the request for a browse session by a clientcomputing device with a content provider, the establishment of a remotebrowse session between one or more client computing devices and anetwork computing provider, the determination of one or more browsingconfigurations for processing the request, and the transmission ofbrowse session state data and client interaction data between the clientcomputing device and the network computing provider. Although aspects ofthe embodiments described in the disclosure will focus, for the purposeof illustration, on the management of a remote browse session, oneskilled in the art will appreciate that the techniques disclosed hereinmay be applied to any number of software processes or applications.Further, although various aspects of the disclosure will be describedwith regard to illustrative examples and embodiments, one skilled in theart will appreciate that the disclosed embodiments and examples shouldnot be construed as limiting.

With reference to an illustrative example, a user may cause a clientcomputing device to load a software browser application (henceforthreferred to as a “browser”) for accessing content provided by one ormore content provider s. Illustratively, the accessed content mayinclude a collection of one or more network resources (e.g., a Web page)and embedded resources such as images, video, audio, text, executablecode, and other resources. In one embodiment, the browser may have acontent display area or pane for displaying the accessed network contentin addition to one or more local interface components, such as toolbars,menus, buttons, or other user interface controls. Local interfacecomponents may be managed and controlled by the software browserapplication or any other process executing or implemented locally at theclient computing device. Illustratively, managing user interfacecontrols locally may allow for a responsive user interface, asinteractions by the user are processed locally on the client computingdevice.

Subsequent to the browser being loaded, a user or automated browserprocess may cause the client computing device to transmit a request toaccess content from a content provider by establishing a browse sessionwith a network computing provider across a private or public network.The browse session request may include information identifying one ormore sources for the requested content. The identifiers can be in theform of network addresses of network resources, such as a Web site orother network accessible piece of content. For example, the user mayselect or enter a URL, (e.g., http://www.xyzwebsite.com) into a browserwindow, causing the client computing device to transmit a request for anew browse session to the network computing provider, including theselected URL. The address or location of a network computing providercapable to service the browse session request may be hardcoded into thebrowser, may be configurable by the user, may be obtained from a networkaddress service, or may be determined in any other way.

In an illustrative embodiment, responsive to the browse session requestreceived from the client computing device, the network computingprovider may instantiate or cause to have instantiated one or morecomputing components associated with the network computing provider thatwill host a browser software application. For example, the networkcomputing provider can instantiate, or cause to have instantiated, aninstance of a virtual machine that includes a software browserapplication capable of requesting resources from a communicationnetwork. Illustratively, in some situations, one or more devicesassociated with the network computing provider may be located in a datacenter or other robustly networked computing environment, and, ascompared to the client computing device, may experience relativelylittle latency, or delay when obtaining network resources.

Using the instantiated network computing components, the networkcomputing provider may request the identified network resource(s) fromone or more content provider s, a content delivery network, or a localor associated cache component. For example, the browser softwareapplication on the instantiated network computing component can processa primary network resource and then generate additional content requestsfor content identified in one or more embedded resource identifiers(e.g. pictures, video files, etc.). Illustratively, in the case ofother, non-browser, applications, network resources, or content mayinclude any file type or format known in the art and supported by thespecific software application.

Having obtained the requested content (e.g., the requested networkresource and embedded resources), the network computing provider mayidentify one or more browsing configurations for the requested content,based on the processing requirements for one or more portions of therequested content. The browsing configurations can specify a remotesession communication protocol for use in transmitting the requestedcontent, user interaction data, intermediate processing results, andother information between the browser being executed on the clientcomputing device and the browser being executed at the instantiatednetwork computing component on the network computing provider. Theinformation exchanged between the browser on the instantiated networkcomputing component and the browser on the client computing device canbe generally referred to as “browser session information.”

In addition to specifying a remote session communication protocol fortransmitting information between the client computing device and theinstantiated network computing component, in one embodiment, theidentified remote session browsing configurations may specify that oneor more processing actions to be performed on the requested content areto be performed at the network computing provider rather than, or inaddition to, at the client computing device For purposes ofillustration, the processing of network content by a browser may involvevarious processing actions before content can be rendered in anappropriate form on a client computing device. A Web page, for example,may be parsed and processed to process various HTML layout informationand references to associated resources or embedded content such as CSSstyle sheets and Javascript, as well as embedded content objects such asimages, video, audio, etc. Each object or piece of code may be parsedand processed before a representative object model corresponding to theweb page may be constructed and processed further for layout anddisplay. In accordance with the selected remote session browsingconfigurations, the client computing device and the instantiated networkcomputing component may exchange processing results via browser sessioninformation (e.g., state data or display data representing the requestedcontent).

The remote session may be a co-browse session, involving one or moreadditional client computing devices, each of which can see, interactwith, and update the requested content, and the updates can be seen bythe other client computing devices in the co-browse session.Additionally, the browse session, whether or not it is a co-browsesession, may be a persistent browse session. Client computing devicescan disconnect from, and re-establish a connection to the persistentbrowse session without requiring the network resource to be retrievedfrom the content provider again.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a networked computingenvironment 100 for the management and processing of content requests.As illustrated in FIG. 1, the networked computing environment 100includes a number of client computing devices 102 (generally referred toas clients) for requesting content and content processing from a contentprovider 104, CDN service provider 106, or network computing provider107. In an illustrative embodiment, the client computing devices 102 cancorresponds to a wide variety of computing devices including personalcomputing devices, laptop computing devices, hand-held computingdevices, terminal computing devices, mobile devices (e.g., mobilephones, tablet computing devices, etc.), wireless devices, variouselectronic devices and appliances and the like. In an illustrativeembodiment, the client computing devices 102 include necessary hardwareand software components for establishing communications over acommunication network 108, such as a wide area network or local areanetwork. For example, the client computing devices 102 may be equippedwith networking equipment and browser software applications thatfacilitate communications via the Internet or an intranet. The clientcomputing devices 102 may have varied local computing resources such ascentral processing units and architectures, memory, mass storage,graphics processing units, communication network availability andbandwidth, etc.

The networked computing environment 100 can also include a contentprovider 104 in communication with the one or more client computingdevices 102 or other service provider s (e.g., CDN service provider 106,network computing provider 107, etc.) via the communication network 108.The content provider 104 illustrated in FIG. 1 corresponds to a logicalassociation of one or more computing devices associated with a contentprovider. Specifically, the content provider 104 can include a webserver component 110 corresponding to one or more server computingdevices for obtaining and processing requests for content (such as Webpages) from the client computing devices 102 or other service providers. The content provider 104 can further include an origin servercomponent 112 and associated storage component 114 corresponding to oneor more computing devices for obtaining and processing requests fornetwork resources from the CDN service provider. The content provider104 can still further include an application server computing device111, such as a data streaming server, for processing streaming contentrequests. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that thecontent provider 104 can be associated with various additional computingresources, such as additional computing devices for administration ofcontent and resources, DNS name servers, and the like. For example,although not illustrated in FIG. 1, the content provider 104 can beassociated with one or more DNS name server components that would beauthoritative to resolve client computing device DNS queriescorresponding to a domain of the content provider.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the networked computing environment100 can further include a CDN service provider 106 in communication withthe one or more client computing devices 102 and other service providers via the communication network 108. The CDN service provider 106illustrated in FIG. 1 corresponds to a logical association of one ormore computing devices associated with a CDN service provider.Specifically, the CDN service provider 106 can include a number of Pointof Presence (“POP”) locations 116, 122, 128 that correspond to nodes onthe communication network 108. Each CDN POP 116, 122, 128 includes a DNScomponent 118, 124, 130 made up of a number of DNS server computingdevices for resolving DNS queries from the client computers 102. EachCDN POP 116, 122, 128 also includes a resource cache component 120, 126,132 made up of a number of cache server computing devices for storingresources from content provider s and transmitting various requestedresources to various client computers. The DNS components 118, 124, and130 and the resource cache components 120, 126, 132 may further includeadditional software and/or hardware components that facilitatecommunications including, but not limited to, load balancing or loadsharing software/hardware components.

In an illustrative embodiment, the DNS component 118, 124, 130 andresource cache component 120, 126, 132 are considered to be logicallygrouped, regardless of whether the components, or portions of thecomponents, are physically separate. Additionally, although the CDN POPs116, 122, 128 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as logically associated with theCDN service provider 106, the CDN POPs will be geographicallydistributed throughout the communication network 108 in a manner to bestserve various demographics of client computing devices 102.Additionally, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that theCDN service provider 106 can be associated with various additionalcomputing resources, such as additional computing devices foradministration of content and resources, and the like.

With further continued reference to FIG. 1, the networked computingenvironment 100 can also include a network computing provider 107 incommunication with the one or more client computing devices 102, the CDNservice provider 106, and the content provider 104 via the communicationnetwork 108. The network computing provider 107 illustrated in FIG. 1also corresponds to a logical association of one or more computingdevices associated with a network computing provider. Specifically, thenetwork computing provider 107 can include a number of Point of Presence(“POP”) locations 134, 142, 148 that correspond to nodes on thecommunication network 108. Each POP 134, 142, 148 includes a networkcomputing component (NCC) 136, 144, 150 for hosting applications, suchas data streaming applications, via a number of instances of a virtualmachine, generally referred to as an instance of an NCC. One skilled inthe relevant art will appreciate that NCC 136, 144, 150 would includephysical computing device resources and software to provide the multipleinstances of a virtual machine or to dynamically cause the creation ofinstances of a virtual machine. Such creation can be based on a specificrequest, such as from a client computing device, or the NCC can initiatedynamic creation of an instance of a virtual machine on its own. EachNCC POP 134, 142, 148 also includes a storage component 140, 146, 152made up of a number of storage devices for storing any type of data usedin the delivery and processing of network or computing resources,including but not limited to user data, state information, processingrequirements, historical usage data, and resources from content providers that will be processed by an instance of an NCC 136, 144, 150 andtransmitted to various client computers, etc. The NCCs 136, 144, 150 andthe storage components 140, 146, 152 may further include additionalsoftware and/or hardware components that facilitate communicationsincluding, but not limited to, load balancing or load sharingsoftware/hardware components for selecting instances of a virtualmachine supporting a requested application and/or providing informationto a DNS nameserver to facilitate request routing.

In an illustrative embodiment, NCCs 136, 144, 150 and the storagecomponents 140, 146, 152 are considered to be logically grouped,regardless of whether the components, or portions of the components, arephysically separate. For example, a network computing provider 107 maymaintain separate POPs for providing the NCC and the storage components.Additionally, although the NCC POPs 134, 142, 148 are illustrated inFIG. 1 as logically associated with a network computing provider 107,the NCC POPs will be geographically distributed throughout thecommunication network 108 in a manner to best serve various demographicsof client computing devices 102. Additionally, one skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that the network computing provider 107 canbe associated with various additional computing resources, suchadditional computing devices for administration of content andresources, and the like. Even further, one skilled in the relevant artwill appreciate that the components of the network computing provider107 and components of the CDN service provider 106 can be managed by thesame or different entities.

With reference now to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6A, 6B, and 6C (“FIGS. 2-6”),the interaction between various components of the networked computingenvironment 100 of FIG. 1 will be illustrated. Specifically, FIGS. 2-6illustrate the interaction between various components of the networkedcomputing environment 100 for the exchange of content between a clientcomputing device 102 and a content provider 104 via the networkcomputing provider 107. For purposes of the example, however, theillustration has been simplified such that many of the componentsutilized to facilitate communications are not shown. One skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that such components can be utilized andthat additional interactions would accordingly occur without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

With reference to FIG. 2, the process can begin with the generation andprocessing of a browse session request from a client computing device102 to a network computing provider 107 will be described.Illustratively, the client computing device 102 may load a browser forviewing network content in response to an event or user request.Subsequent to the browser being loaded, the browser may be implementedto request a new browse session. From the perspective of the user of theclient computing device, the request for the new browse sessioncorresponds to the intended request to transmit the request to one ormore corresponding content provider s 104. Illustratively, this requestmay be generated automatically as a result of the browser loading (e.g.,a request for a default or “home” page), or may be generated as a resultof a user following a link or entering a network address into an addressbar. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the browse session request is transmittedfirst to a network computing provider 107. In an illustrativeembodiment, the network computing provider 107 utilizes a registrationapplication program interface (“API”) to accept browse session requestsfrom the client computing device 102. The browse session request caninclude network address information corresponding to a requested networkresource, which may be in any form, including, but not limited to, anInternet Protocol (“IP”) address, a URL, a Media Access Control (“MAC”)address, etc.

Subsequent to the receipt of the browse session request, the networkcomputing provider 107 may select an associated network computingcomponent (hereinafter “NCC”) point of presence (hereinafter “POP”) suchas NCC POP 142 to service the browse session request. The selection ofthe NCC POP may determine the processing and network resources availableto the instantiated virtual machine. The selection of processing andnetwork resources and the provisioning of software at the NCC POPinstance may be done, at least in part, in order to optimizecommunication with content provider s 104 and client computing devices102.

With reference to FIG. 3, an illustrative interaction for generation andprocessing of a request for a network resource from a network computingprovider 107 to a content provider 104 will be described. As illustratedin FIG. 3, the selected NCC POP 142 may generate a browse sessioncorresponding to one or more content provider s based on a browsesession request, such as the illustrative browse session requestdepicted in FIG. 2 above. Illustratively, instantiating a new browsesession instance may include loading a new virtual machine instanceand/or browser instance at the NCC POP 142, reserving or allocatingdevice memory, storage or cache space, processor time, networkbandwidth, or other computational or network resources for the newbrowse session.

Subsequent to initializing a new browse session instance, NCC POP 142may provide a request for a network resource to a content provider 104based on a network address included in the browse session request. Forexample, a browse session request may include a URL for a Web page, suchas “http://www.xyzsite.com/default.htm.” NCC POP 142 may resolve the URLto an IP address through a DNS resolver associated with the networkcomputing provider (not shown), and may request the Web page from thecontent provider 104 at the resolved IP address. In various embodiments,a network resource may be retrieved from any combination of contentprovider s, content delivery network (hereinafter “CDN”) servers, orcaches associated with the network computing provider 107. For example,the network computing provider may check if a resource is stored in alocal cache or in another server or service provider associated with thenetwork computing provider 107. If a network resource is stored in alocal or associated location, the NCC POP 142 may retrieve the networkresource from the local or associated location rather than from thethird party content provider 104 or CDN service provider 106.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may provide requests for any number ofnetwork resources as included in the browse session request, and mayobtain these network resources from any number of different sources,sequentially or in parallel.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the content provider 104 receives the resourcerequest from the NCC POP 142 and processes the request accordingly. Inone embodiment, the content provider 104 processes the resource requestas if it were originally provided by the client computing device 102.For example, the content provider 104 may select the type of content,ordering of content, or version of content according to the requirementsof the requesting client computing device 102. In another embodiment,the content provider 104 may be provided with information that providesinformation associated with the NCC POP 142 for utilization in providingthe requested content (e.g., an available amount of processing resourcesor network bandwidth).

Subsequent to obtaining the requested network resource from the contentprovider 104 (or other source designated by the content provider), theNCC POP 142 may process the network resource to extract embeddedresource identifiers and gather information for determination of aremote session browsing configuration. For example, a network resourcesuch as a Web page may include embedded CSS style information andJavascript as well as embedded resource identifiers to additionalresources such as text, images, video, audio, animation, executablecode, and other HTML, CSS, and Javascript files. In the process ofextracting the embedded resource identifiers, the NCC POP 142 may gatherinformation about the processed network resources for later use in thedetermination of a remote session browsing configuration as discussedbelow with reference to FIG. 4.

With reference to FIG. 4, an illustrative interaction for generation andprocessing of one or more requests corresponding to one or more embeddedresources from a network computing provider to a content provider andcontent delivery network is disclosed. As illustrated in FIG. 4, theselected NCC POP 142 may provide resource requests to one or moresources of content such as content provider 104 and CDN POP 116. Theresource requests may correspond to embedded resources based on one ormore embedded resource identifiers extracted from a requested networkresource (e.g., a Web page) as described in FIG. 3 above. In variousembodiments, embedded resources may be retrieved from any combination ofcontent provider s, CDN servers, or caches associated with the networkcomputing provider 107. For example, the network computing provider maycheck if an embedded resource is stored in a local cache or in anotherserver or service provider associated with the network computingprovider 107. If an embedded resource is stored in a local or associatedlocation, the NCC POP 142 may retrieve the embedded resource from thelocal or associated location rather than the third party contentprovider or CDN. Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may provide requestsfor any number of embedded resources referenced by a network resource,and may obtain these embedded resources from any number of differentsources, sequentially or in parallel. Subsequent to obtaining therequested resources, the NCC POP 142 may process the resources andrequested content to determine a remote session browsing configurationfor the processing and communication of content to the client computingdevice 102.

With reference to FIG. 5, an illustrative interaction for generation andprocessing of processing results and user interaction data between anetwork computing provider and client computing device is disclosed. Aspreviously described, in one embodiment, the respective browsers on theinstantiated network computing component and the client computing device102 can exchange browsers' session information related to the allocationand processing of the requested resources at the instantiated networkcomputing component and client computing device. As illustrated in FIG.5, the selected NCC POP 142 may provide an initial processing result tothe client computing device 102 over the network 108. The initialprocessing result may correspond to requested network content, such as aWeb page, along with associated embedded resources processed by the NCCPOP 142 in accordance with a selected remote session browsingconfiguration as described in FIG. 4 above. The NCC POP 142 also makes adetermination of which additional processes will be conducted at the NCCPOP 142, at the client computing device 102, or both. Subsequent toreceiving an initial processing result and the allocation of processes,the client computing device 102 may perform any remaining processingactions on the initial processing result as required by the selectedremote session browsing configuration, and may display the fullyprocessed content in a content display area of a browser. The clientcomputing device 102 may process any local user interactions with localinterface components or content elements locally, and may provide userinteractions requiring remote processing to the network computingprovider 107. The network computing provider 107 may provide updatedprocessing results to the client computing device in response to changesto the content or remote user interaction data from the client computingdevice.

With reference to FIG. 6A, a block diagram of the content deliveryenvironment of FIG. 1 illustrating the generation and processing of anadditional new browse session request from a client computing device toa network computing provider is disclosed. As illustrated in FIG. 6A, asecond new browse session request may be sent to network computingprovider 107 from client computing device 102 across network 108. In anillustrative embodiment, the network computing provider 107 utilizes aregistration API to accept browse session requests from the clientcomputing device 102.

The additional browse session request may be generated by a clientcomputing device 102 in response to a user opening up a new browserwindow with a new content display area, opening a new content displayarea in an existing browser window (e.g., opening a new tab in abrowser), requesting new network content in an existing content displayarea (e.g., following a link to a new network resource, or entering anew network address into the browser), or any other user interaction.For example, a user browsing a first Web page corresponding to a firstbrowse session instance may follow a link that opens a new tab orbrowser window to view a second Web page. In one embodiment, anyrequired steps of obtaining and processing content associated with thesecond Web page may be performed by the currently instantiated networkcomputing component in which the browser can handle the processing ofboth resource requests. In another embodiment, the client computingdevice 102 request may be processed as a new browse session request tothe network computing provider 107, including the network address of thesecond Web page. In this embodiment, the browser on the client computingdevice may not specifically request a separate browse session, and auser's interaction with the browser on the client computing device 102may appear to be part of a same browsing session. As described abovewith regard to FIGS. 2 and 3, the network computing provider 107 maycause an instantiation of a network computing component for obtainingand processing content associated with the second web page. In otherembodiments, a new browse session request may be generated by the clientcomputing device 102 corresponding to sections of a network resource(e.g., frames of a Web page), individual network resources, or embeddedresources themselves, data objects included in a set of content, orindividual network resources.

Illustratively, the additional browse session request may include anynumber of pieces of data or information including, but not limited to,information associated with a user, information associated with theclient computing device 102 (e.g., hardware or software information, adevice physical or logical location, etc.), information associated withthe network 108, user or browser preferences (e.g., a requested remotesession browse protocol, a preference list, a decision tree, or otherinformation), information associated with the network computing provider107, information associated with one or more pieces of requested networkcontent (e.g., the network address of a network resource), etc.Requested content may include any manner of digital content, includingWeb pages or other documents, text, images, video, audio, executablescripts or code, or any other type of digital resource.

Subsequent to the receipt of the browse session request, the networkcomputing provider 107 may select an associated network computingcomponent such as NCC POP 142 to service the browse session request. Asdiscussed above with reference to FIG. 2, a network computing provider107 may select an NCC POP to service a browse session request based onany number of factors, including, but not limited to available NCC POPresources (e.g., available memory, processor load, network load, etc.),a financial cost of servicing the browse session request at the NCC POP,the NCC POP location respective to a client computing device 102,content provider 112, or CDN POP 116, a NCC POP cache status (e.g.,whether a requested resource is already stored in an NCC POP cache),etc. In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may select anumber of NCC POPs to service a browse session request. Illustratively,although the network computing provider 107 is depicted here forpurposes of illustration as selecting NCC POP 142, the network computingprovider 107 may select any extant NCC POP to service the browse sessionrequest. For example, a single client computing device 102 maysimultaneously or sequentially provide three different browse sessionrequests to the network computing provider 107 corresponding todifferent network resources. The network computing provider 107 mayselect different NCC POPs for each browse session request, the same NCCPOP for all three browse session requests, or any combination thereof.As discussed above, the decision whether to select a different NCC POPthan was utilized for a previous or simultaneous browse session requestmay be made on the basis of available system resources, randomly, oraccording to any other factor as discussed above and with regards toFIG. 2.

With reference to FIG. 6B, a block diagram of the content deliveryenvironment of FIG. 1 illustrating the generation and processing of apersistent browse session request from a client computing device to anetwork computing provider is disclosed. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, asecond client computing device 102B can connect to the persistent browsesession after the first client computing device 102A has requested itand disconnected from it. In some embodiments, a second client computingdevice 102B can connect to the persistent browse session while the firstclient computing device 102A is still connected. In an illustrativeembodiment, the network computing provider 107 utilizes a registrationAPI to accept persistent browse session requests from the clientcomputing devices 102A and 102B.

With reference to FIG. 6C, a block diagram of the content deliveryenvironment of FIG. 1 illustrating the generation and processing of aco-browse session request from a client computing device to a networkcomputing provider is disclosed. As illustrated in FIG. 6C, a secondclient computing device 102B may connect to the co-browse sessioninitialized by the first client computing device 102A. When two or moreclient computing devices 102A, 102B are connected to a co-browsesession, user interaction data from each device can be transmitted tothe network computing provider 107. In response, the network computingprovider 107 can generate and transmit updated processing results to theclient computing devices 102A, 102B. The updated processing results canreflect the user interactions on the multiple client computing devices102A, 102B.

FIG. 7A is a user interface diagram depicting an illustrative browserinterface and display of browse session content. As described above withreference to FIG. 5, a browser 700 may have a content display area 702,as well as one or more one or more local interface components. Theselocal interface components may include toolbars, menus, buttons, addressbars, scroll bars, window resize controls, or any other user interfacecontrols. Illustratively, local interface components may be displayed asseparate from the content display area or may be overlaid or embedded inthe content display area. The content display area 702 may have two ormore distinct portions, such as frames or divs, which can be processedaccording to different browsing configurations as described herein. Theportions may also be determined dynamically, with images, videos,applets, animations, input controls, etc. being assigned differentbrowsing configurations. For example, the input control 704 illustratedin FIG. 7A as a text input box can be assigned a browsing configurationwhich moves associated Javascript or other executable validation andprocessing to the network computing provider 104, while the rest of thecontent display area 702 is processed entirely on the client computingdevice 102.

Interactions with local interface components may be treated as localuser interactions or remote user interactions depending on theprocessing required by the interaction and the remote session browsingconfiguration. For example, the selection of a preferences option in abrowser menu may be handled entirely as a local user interaction by abrowser. The processing required to display the menu, provide visualfeedback regarding the selection, display the preferences window, andprocess the changes made to the browser preferences may be performedlocally. As discussed above, processing user interactions locally mayprovide greater responsiveness at the browser as opposed to sending userinteraction data to the NCC POP 142 for processing. As another example,when using a remote session browsing configuration that specifiesextensive processing on the NCC POP 142 (e.g., a remote session browsingconfiguration using a remote session communication protocol such asRDP), the selection of a content refresh button in a browser toolbar maybe handled both as a local user interaction and a remote userinteraction. The limited processing required to provide interfacefeedback corresponding to the button selection may be handled at theclient computing device 102 in order to provide the appearance ofinterface responsiveness, while the refresh command, which may requireprocessing of the network content displayed in the content display areaof the browser, may be sent as user interaction data to the NCC POP 142for processing. The NCC POP 142 may then transmit updated processingresults corresponding to the refreshed network content back to theclient computing device 102 for display.

FIG. 7B illustrates a browser application displaying a network resourcewith two portions of content. The two portions of content can beprocessed according to different browsing configurations, as describedin detail herein. For example, the text and image based portion 752 canbe primarily processed on the client computing device 102. The videoportion 754 may be processed primarily at the network computing provider104. For example, the video can be rendered at the network computingprovider 104 utilizing one of any number of codecs. The rendered contentcan be accessed by the client computing device 102 via an RDP connectionor a connection utilizing any other remote computing protocol. In thisexample, the client computing device 102 does not require the codec torender the video. Such a browsing configuration may assign processing ofuser interface interactions to the client computing device 102 forimproved visual feedback and responsiveness. For example, the playbackcontrol panel 756 can be processed by the client computing device 102even though the video is rendered by the network computing provider 104.

In some embodiments, an indicia 758 can be provided, indicating whereprocessing has taken place or of which client computing devices 102 in aco-browsing session have access to the portion. For example, in aco-browsing session, some areas of the display, such as personalizedarea 760, can be updated by, and displayed to, only one client computingdevice 102, while the remainder can be shared among some or all of theclient computing devices of the co-browsing session. The indicia 758 canbe a panel of text displayed over a portion when a mouse cursor 762 ismoved over it. In some embodiments, the indicia can be an outline,background image, background color, and the like.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting illustrative browser content processingactions as a series of processing subsystems 800. In many embodiments, abrowser may process sets of content (e.g., network resources such as webpages and associated embedded resources) in a series of processingactions. Illustratively, and as described above with reference to FIGS.3-5, a remote session browsing configuration may specify a split betweenprocessing actions performed at a network computing provider (e.g., anNCC POP) and processing actions performed at a client computing device102. This split may designate some processing actions to be performed byeach of the NCC POP and client computing device 102, or may assign allprocessing actions to a single device or component. For example, an NCCPOP may perform all of these various processing actions at the browsesession instance, and send fully processed RDP processing results to theclient computing device 102 for bitmap assembly and display. Any numberof different remote session browsing configurations may be used by oneor more browse sessions instances running at an NCC POP.

One of skill in the relevant art will appreciate that the subsystemsshown here are depicted for the purpose of illustration, and are notintended to describe a necessary order or a definitive list of browsersubsystems. Various browser software components may implement additionalor fewer browser subsystems than are shown here, and may order thesubsystems or corresponding processing actions in any number ofdifferent ways. Although the processing subsystems 800 depicted here forpurposes of illustration are directed at the processing of Web pages orother Web content, one of skill in the relevant art will appreciate thatthe processing of other file types or network resources may be broken upin a similar manner. For example, one of skill in the relevant art willappreciate that a similar schema may be developed for the processing ofimages, video, audio, database information, 3d design data, or any otherfile format or type of data known in the art. Similar schema may also bedeveloped for any number of device operating system or softwareframework processing operations, such as scheduling, memory or filemanagement, system resource management, process or service execution ormanagement, etc. Further, although the HTML protocol and RDP remotesession communication protocols are discussed herein for the purposes ofexample, one of skill in the relevant art will appreciate that a remotesession browsing configuration may implement any number of remotecommunication protocols for any number of specified processing actions,and that a remote session browsing configuration may be formulated toperform any fraction or combination of the actions identified below atany combination of the client computing device 102 and network computingprovider 107.

Illustratively, the first processing subsystem involved in theprocessing and display of network content is the networking subsystem802. Illustratively, the networking subsystem 802 may be responsible forall communication between the browser and content provider, includinglocal caching of Web content. The networking subsystem is generallylimited by the performance of the user's network. A remote sessionbrowsing configuration that splits processing actions at the networkingsubsystem 802 might include a remote session browsing configurationutilizing an HTML remote session communication protocol, where one ormore caching or resource retrieval actions were performed at the NCCPOP, but parsing and processing of the content was performed at theclient computing device.

As network resources such as HTML documents are downloaded from theserver they may be passed to an HTML subsystem 804 which parses thedocument, initiates additional downloads in the networking subsystem,and creates a structural representation of the document. Modern browsersmay also contain related subsystems which are used for XHTML, XML andSVG documents. A remote session browsing configuration that splitsprocessing actions at the HTML subsystem 804 might include a remotesession browsing configuration utilizing an HTML remote sessioncommunication protocol, where an initial HTML page is processed at theNCC POP in order to extract embedded resource identifiers, butadditional parsing and processing of the content is performed at theclient computing device. In another embodiment, a remote sessionbrowsing configuration that splits processing actions at the HTMLsubsystem 804 might perform initial processing to create the structuralrepresentation of the HTML document, and provides a processing resultincluding the structural representation and associated embeddedresources to the client computing device for processing.

When CSS is encountered, whether inside an HTML document or an embeddedCSS document, it may be passed to a CSS subsystem 806 to parse the styleinformation and create a structural representation that can bereferenced later. Illustratively, a remote session browsingconfiguration that splits processing actions at a CSS subsystem 806 mayconstruct a processing result including the CSS structuralrepresentation and HTML structural representation, and provide theprocessing result and associated embedded resources to the clientcomputing device for processing.

HTML documents often contain metadata, for example the informationdescribed in a document header or the attributes applied to an element.The collections subsystem 808 may be responsible for storing andaccessing this metadata. A remote session browsing configuration thatsplits processing actions at a collections subsystem 808 may construct aprocessing result including processed metadata along with any otherstructural representations discussed above, and provide the processingresult and associated embedded resources to the client computing devicefor processing.

When Javascript is encountered, it may be passed directly to aJavaScript subsystem 810 responsible for executing the script. TheJavascript subsystem 810 has been examined fully over the years, and maybe one of the most well known browser subsystems in the art. A remotesession browsing configuration that splits processing actions at aJavascript subsystem 810 may construct a processing result including aninternal representation of one or more Javascript scripts, including,but not limited to state data or a representation of the script in anative or intermediate form, as well as any other processed structuresor data discussed above, and provide the processing result andassociated embedded resources to the client computing device forprocessing.

Because many JavaScript engines are not directly integrated into thebrowser, there may be a communication layer including the marshallingsubsystem 812 between the browser and the script engine. Passinginformation through this communication layer may generally be referredto as marshaling. A remote session browsing configuration that splitsprocessing actions at a marshalling subsystem 812 may construct aprocessing result including marshalling data as well as any otherprocessed structures, scripts, or data discussed above, and provide theprocessing result and associated embedded resources to the clientcomputing device for processing.

In some embodiments, JavaScript interacts with an underlying networkresource such as a Web document through the Document Object Model APIs.These APIs may be provided through a native object model subsystem 814that knows how to access and manipulate the document and is the primaryinteraction point between the script engine and the browser.Illustratively, a remote session browsing configuration that splitsprocessing actions at a native object model subsystem 814 may constructa processing result including native object model state data or APIcalls as well as any other processed structures, scripts, or datadiscussed above, and provide the processing result and any otherassociated embedded resources to the client computing device forprocessing.

Once the document is constructed, the browser may needs to apply styleinformation before it can be displayed to the user. The formattingsubsystem 816 takes the HTML document and applies styles.Illustratively, a remote session browsing configuration that splitsprocessing actions at a formatting subsystem 816 may construct aprocessing result including an HTML representation with applied styles,as well as any other processed state data, API calls, structures,scripts, or data discussed above, and provide the processing result andany other associated embedded resources to the client computing devicefor processing.

In one embodiment, CSS is a block based layout system. After thedocument is styled, the next step, at a block building subsystem 818,may be to construct rectangular blocks that will be displayed to theuser. This process may determine things like the size of the blocks andmay be tightly integrated with the next stage, layout. A remote sessionbrowsing configuration that splits processing actions at a blockbuilding subsystem 818 may construct a processing result including blockinformation, as well as any other processed state data, API calls,structures, scripts, or data discussed above, and provide the processingresult and any other associated embedded resources to the clientcomputing device for processing.

Subsequent to the browser styling the content and constructing theblocks, it may go through the process of laying out the content. Thelayout subsystem 820 is responsible for this algorithmically complexprocess. Illustratively, a remote session browsing configuration thatsplits processing actions at a layout subsystem 820 may process thevarious state data, API calls, structures, scripts, or data discussedabove to construct a processing result including layout information forthe client computing device. Illustratively, an NCC POP may make use ofvarious data or settings associated with the client computing device orbrowser (e.g., as provided in the initial browse session request) inorder to generate a suitable layout for the client computing device. Forexample, a mobile device may provide a screen resolution and a displaymode to the NCC POP. The NCC POP may base layout calculations on thisscreen resolution and display mode in order to generate a processingresult corresponding to a content representation suitable for a browserrunning on the mobile device. Illustratively, in various embodiments,any other subsystem implemented by the NCC POP may make use of dataassociated with the client computing device or browser in generating aprocessing result for the client.

The final stage of the process may occur inside the display subsystem822 where the final content is displayed to the user. This process isoften referred to as drawing. A remote session browsing configurationthat splits processing actions at the networking subsystem 802 mightinclude a remote session browsing configuration utilizing an RDP remotesession communication protocol, where nearly all processing is performedat the NCC POP, and a processing result including bitmap data and lowlevel interface data are passed to the client computing device fordisplay.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrative of a new browse session routine900 implemented by network computing provider 107 of FIG. 1. New browsesession routine 900 begins at block 902. At block 904, the networkcomputing provider 107 receives a new browse session request from clientcomputing device 102. As previously described, the client computingdevice 102 may load a browser for viewing network content in response toan event or user request. Subsequent to the browser being loaded, thebrowser may be implemented request a new browse session. From theperspective of the user of the client computing device, the request forthe new browse session corresponds to the intended request to transmitthe request to one or more corresponding content providers 104.Illustratively, this request may be generated automatically as a resultof the browser loading (e.g., a request for a default or “home” page),or may be generated as a result of a user following a link or entering anetwork address into an address bar. This browse session request mayinclude one or more addresses or references to various network resourcesor other content requested by the client computing device 102. In anillustrative embodiment, the browse session request is transmitted inaccordance with an API.

At block 906 the network computing provider 107 may select an associatedNCC POP to instantiate a new browse session based on the browse sessionrequest. As discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, a networkcomputing provider 107 may include any number of NCC POPs distributedacross any number of physical or logical locations. A network computingprovider 107 may select a NCC POP to service a browse session requestbased on any number of factors, including, but not limited to availableNCC POP resources (e.g., available memory, processor load, network load,etc.), a financial cost of servicing the browse session request at theNCC POP, the NCC POP location respective to a client computing device102, content provider 104, or CDN POP 116, a NCC POP cache status (e.g.,whether a requested resource is already stored in an NCC POP cache),etc.

In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may select anumber of NCC POPs to service a browse session request. For example, thenetwork computing provider 107 may select two NCC POPs with differentlogical locations in the network. Each NCC POP may independently requestand process network content on the behalf of the client computing device102, and the client computing device 102 may accept data from the firstNCC POP to return a processing result. Subsequent to being selected bythe network computing provider 107, NCC POP 142 may obtain the browsesession request. In one embodiment, NCC POP 142 may have the browsesession request forwarded to it by a component of network computingprovider 107. In another embodiment, NCC POP 142 or client computingdevice 102 may receive connection information allowing the establishmentof direct communication between NCC POP 142 and client computing device102. Illustratively, NCC POP 142 may be provided with the browse sessionrequest originally provided to network computing provider 107, may beprovided with a subset of information (e.g., just a network address ofrequested content), or may be provided additional information notincluded in the original browse session request.

Subsequent to the NCC POP 142 being selected, the network computingprovider 107 may cause the NCC POP 142 to instantiate a new browsesession. Illustratively, instantiating a new browse session instance mayinclude loading a new virtual machine instance and/or browser instanceat the NCC POP 142, reserving or allocating device memory, storage orcache space, processor time, network bandwidth, or other computationalor network resources for the new browse session. Illustratively, one ormore characteristics of the new browse session instance and/or browserinstance may be based on client computing device 102 informationincluded in the browse session request. For example, the browse sessionrequest may include a device type or browser type, a device screenresolution, a browser display area, or other information defining thedisplay preferences or capabilities of the client computing device 102or browser. The NCC POP 142 may accordingly instantiate a virtualmachine instance and/or a browser instance with the same or similarcapabilities as the client computing device 102. Illustratively,maintaining a virtual machine instance and/or browser with the same orsimilar capabilities as the client computing device 102 may allow theNCC POP 142 to process network content according to the appropriatedimensions and layout for display on the particular client computingdevice 102.

In some embodiments, the NCC POP 142 may utilize an existing virtualmachine instance and/or browser instance in addition to, or as analternative to, instating a new browse session. For example, subsequentto the NCC POP 142 being selected, the network computing provider 107may cause the NCC POP 142 to associate an existing browser instanceand/or virtual machine instance, such as one or more instancespreviously instantiated at the NCC POP 142, with the new browse sessionrequest. Illustratively, an existing browser session and/or virtualmachine instance may correspond to another browse session, remoteapplication session, or other remote process associated with the user orclient computing device 102, or may be a previously instantiatedsoftware instance from an unrelated browse session or remote process. Inother embodiments, the NCC POP 142 may instantiate a new browser orother application process in an existing virtual machine instance, ormay combine the utilization of previously instantiated and newlyinstantiated software processes in any number of other ways. In stillfurther embodiments, the network computing provider or NCC POP 142 mayinstantiate any number of new virtual machine instances and/or browserinstances (or make use of existing instantiated instances) based on asingle browse session request.

At block 908 the network computing provider 107 may provide a requestfor one or more network resources to a content provider or CDN serviceprovider based on a network address included in the browse sessionrequest. In various embodiments, one or more network resources may beadditionally or alternately retrieved from a cache local to the NCC POP142 or otherwise associated with the network computing provider 107. Oneof skill in the art will appreciate that, in the case of otherembodiments, the link or network address may correspond to a document orfile stored in a digital file locker or other network storage locationor at a cache component associated with the network computing provider107 or client computing device 102. In some embodiments, the new sessionrequest may include a document or file in addition to or as analternative to a network address. At block 910, the network computingprovider 107 obtains the one or more network resources. Subsequent toobtaining the requested network resource, the NCC POP 142 may processthe network resource to extract embedded resource identifiers.

At block 912, the network computing provider 107 may provide resourcerequests to one or more sources of content such as content providers,CDN service providers, and caches. The resource requests may correspondto embedded resources based on the one or more embedded resourceidentifiers extracted from the one or more network resource as describedin block 910 above. At block 914, the network computing provider 107 mayobtain these embedded resources from any number of different sources,sequentially or in parallel.

At block 916, the network computing provider 107 may process the one ormore network resources and associated embedded resources to determine aremote session browsing configuration for the processing andcommunication of content to the client computing device 102. A remotesession browsing configuration may include any proprietary or publicremote protocol allowing exchange of data and user interactions orrequests between a client and a remote server. The remote sessionbrowsing configuration may illustratively include both a remote sessioncommunication protocol and a processing schema for providing processed(or unprocessed) content to a client computing device for display in thecontent display area of a browser.

Illustratively, a remote session browsing configuration may define orspecify a remote session communication protocol, including, but notlimited to, a network protocol, signaling model, transport mechanism, orencapsulation format for the exchange of state data, user interactions,and other data and content between the network computing provider andthe client computing device. Examples of remote session communicationprotocols known in the art include Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP),X-Windows protocol, Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocol, RemoteFrame Buffer protocol, HTML, etc. For example, RDP illustrativelyspecifies a number of processing mechanisms for encoding client input(e.g., mouse movement, keyboard input, etc.) into protocol data unitsfor provision to a remote computing device, and corresponding mechanismsfor sending bitmap updates and low level interface information back tothe client device. As another example, the HTML protocol illustrativelyprovides a mechanism for providing files defining interface informationand containing resources references from a server to a client, and acorresponding mechanism for a client computing device to providerequests for additional files and resources to the server. In oneembodiment, the NCC POP 142 may provide an initial communication to theclient computing device 102 after determining the remote sessioncommunication protocol. This initial communication may allow the clientcomputing device 102 to prepare to receive communications in theselected remote session communication protocol, and, in the case of pullremote session communication protocols like HTTP, may cause the clientcomputing device to send an initial resource request to the browsesession instance running on the NCC POP 142.

Each remote session browsing configuration may additionally define asplit of processing actions between the network computing provider(e.g., NCC POP 142) and the client computing device (e.g., clientcomputing device 102). In one embodiment, a particular split ofprocessing actions may be based on or mandated by a particular remotesession communication protocol. In another embodiment, a remote sessioncommunication protocol may allow several different splits of processingactions depending on the implementation or configuration of theprotocol. For the purpose of illustration, many pieces of networkcontent (e.g., Web pages, video, Flash documents) may require variousprocessing actions before being displayed on a computing device. A Webpage, for example, may be parsed to process various HTML layoutinformation and references to associated resources or embedded contentsuch as CSS style sheets and Javascript, as well as embedded contentobjects such as images, video, audio, etc. The HTML and each referencedobject or piece of code will typically be parsed and processed before arepresentative object model corresponding to the Web page may beconstructed. This object model may then be processed further for layoutand display in a content display area of a browser at the clientcomputing device 102. Illustrative browser processing actions aredescribed in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 8. One of skillin the art will appreciate that, in the case of other embodiments orapplications, various other processing actions may be required.

A remote session browsing configuration may specify that various of theprocessing actions required for display of piece of network content beperformed at the remote computing device, such as the NCC POP 142,rather than at the client computing device 102. Network contentpartially (or wholly) processed at the network computing provider may bereferred to as a processing result. As discussed below, the split ofprocessing actions may be associated with or linked to the remotesession communication protocol used for exchanging data and client inputbetween the NCC POP 142 and client computing device 102.

For example, a remote session communication protocol such as RDP thattransmits a processing result including low level interface informationand bitmaps to the client computing device 142 for display may beassociated with a remote session browsing configuration that specifiesperforming all, or nearly all, of the necessary content processingactions at the NCC POP 142. While using RDP, the NCC POP 142 may, forexample, run a full instance of a browser the NCC POP 142 and transmit aprocessing result consisting of bitmap updates corresponding to arepresentation of the displayed content to the client computing device102. The client computing device 102, in this example, may merely berequired to assemble the transmitted bitmap updates for display in thecontent display area of the browser, and may perform none of theprocessing of the actual HTML, Javascript, or data objects involved inthe display of an illustrative piece of network content. As anotherexample, a remote session browsing configuration utilizing a remotesession communication protocol such as HTML may transmit network contentin a largely unprocessed form. The client computing device 102 may thusperform all of the processing actions required for display of networkcontent while the NCC POP 142 performs little or no processing.

The NCC POP 142 may base its determination of a remote session browsingconfiguration on any number of factors, including, but not limited to,one or more characteristics of one or more of the requested resources,content provider 104, or CDN service provider 106, one or morecharacteristics of the content address or domain, one or morecharacteristics of the client computing device 102, browser orapplication, user, one or more characteristics of the NCC POP 142, orone or more characteristics of the network or network connection, etc.Characteristics of requested resources may include, but are not limitedto, a data format, a content type, a size, processing requirements,resource latency requirements, a number or type of interactive elements,a security risk, an associated user preference, a network address, anetwork domain, an associated content provider, etc. Characteristics ofa content provider 104, CDN service provider 106, computing device 102,or NCC POP 142 may include, but are not limited to, processing power,memory, storage, network connectivity (e.g., available bandwidth orlatency), a physical or logical location, predicted stability or risk offailure, a software or hardware profile, available resources (e.g.,available memory or processing, or the number of concurrently opensoftware applications), etc. The NCC POP 142 may further considerperceived security threats or risks associated with a piece of contentor domain, preferences of a client computing device or a contentprovider, computing or network resource costs (e.g., a financial cost ofprocessing or bandwidth, resource usage, etc.), predeterminedpreferences or selection information, any additional processing overheadrequired by a particular remote session browsing configuration, a cachestatus (e.g., whether a particular resources is cached at a NCC POP 142,at the client computing device 102, or at other network storageassociated with the network computing provider), a predicted delay ortime required to retrieve requested network content, a preferred contentprovider or agreements with a content provider for a particular remotesession browsing configuration or level of service, a remote sessionbrowsing configuration being used for another (or the current) browsesession by the same user, or any other factor.

In some embodiments, an NCC POP 142 may base a determination of a remotesession browsing configuration on past behavior or practice. Forexample, an NCC POP 142 that has determined a remote browse sessionconfiguration for a particular resource in the past may automaticallyselect the same remote browse session configuration when the resource isrequested by the same (or potentially a different) user. As anotherexample, a user that has a history of frequently accessing Web siteswith extensive processing requirements may automatically be assigned aremote session browsing configuration that performs the majority ofprocessing at the NCC POP 142. In other embodiments, an NCC POP 142 maybase a determination of a remote browse session configuration onpredictions of future behavior. For example, an NCC POP 142 may base itsdetermination of a remote browse session configuration for a particularresource on an analysis of past determinations made for a particular Website, network domain, or set of related resources. A content providerthat historically has provided video-heavy Web pages may be associatedwith a remote session browsing configuration that emphasizes videoperformance at the client computing device 102. Illustratively, pasthistorical analysis and future predictions may be considered as one ormore of a number of factors on which to base the remote session browsingconfiguration determination process, or may be definitive in thedecision making process. For example, once an NCC POP 142 determines aremote session browsing configuration for a particular content provider,it may skip the remote session browsing configuration determinationprocess for any future resources served from the content provider.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may re-determine a remote sessionbrowsing configuration to be associated with the content provider aftera fixed period of time, or after the NCC POP 142 has identified ordetermined a change in the content being served by the content provider.

In other embodiments, a network resource, Web site, network domain,content provider, or other network entity may specify or otherwiserequest the use of a particular remote browse session configuration in aresource tag, metadata, or other communication with an NCC POP 142. TheNCC POP 142 may treat the request as definitive, or may consider therequest as one of multiple factors to be considered in the decisionmaking process.

For example, a remote session browsing configuration utilizing a remotesession communication protocol such as RDP may specify extensiveprocessing to occur at the network computing provider 107 (e.g., at NCCPOP 142) rather than at the client computing device 102. The remotesession browsing configuration may thus leverage the processing power ofthe NCC POP 142 to achieve lower latencies and presentation delay whendealing with network content that requires a great deal ofpre-processing (e.g., content with a great deal of CSS or Javascriptinformation defining page layout). The NCC POP 142 may therefore selecta remote session browsing configuration that performs a substantialamount of processing at the network computing provider 107 and utilizesRDP or a similar remote session communication protocol for communicationof processing-intensive content. Conversely, a remote session browsingconfiguration that utilizes a remote session communication protocol suchas HTML may specify extensive processing at the client computing device102 rather than at the network computing provider 107. The remotesession communication protocol may thus achieve smaller delays andsmoother presentation when presented with simple network content thatrequires very little processing or network content that requires rapidchange in displayed content after its initial load. For example, a Webpage with embedded video may perform better performing the majority ofprocessing locally and utilizing HTML rather than RDP as a remotesession communication protocol. A remote session browsing configurationspecifying extensive processing at the network computing provider 107must process the video at the NCC POP 142 and rapidly send screenupdates (e.g. by RDP) to the client computing device 102, potentiallyrequiring a great deal of bandwidth and causing choppy playback in thebrowser, while a remote session browsing configuration specifying localprocessing may provide raw video information directly to the clientcomputing device 102 for display (e.g. by HTML), allowing for clientside caching and a smoother playback of content.

As a further example, the NCC POP 142 in communication with a clientcomputing device 102 with extremely limited processing power may electto use a remote session browsing configuration that requires very littleprocessing by the client computing device, for example, using RDP totransmit NCC POP 142 processed results. Conversely, an NCC POP 142providing an extremely interactive Web page may elect to use a remotesession browsing configuration that allows the client computing device102 to handle user interactions locally in order to preserve interfaceresponsiveness, for example, using HTML to transmit substantiallyunprocessed data. As a still further example, a NCC POP 142 may base thedetermination of a remote session browse configuration on preferencesprovided by the client computing device 102. A client computing device102 may illustratively include preferences for a remote session browseconfiguration in an initial browse session request, or at any othertime. The NCC POP 142 may utilize these preferences as an alternativeto, or in addition to any other factor or decision metric.Illustratively, allowing the client computing device 102 to set orinfluence the selection of a remote session browse configuration allowsthe NCC POP 142 to take user preferences in account when determining aremote session browse configuration. For example, a user worried aboutinitial page load times may prefer to use a remote session browsingconfiguration heavy on remote processing and utilizing an RDP remotesession communications protocol, while a user wishing to maintain anextremely responsive interface may prefer using a remote sessionbrowsing configuration that performs the majority of the processing onthe client computing device 102, for example, using an HTML remotesession communication protocol.

Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may base a determination of a remotebrowsing configuration on any factor or combination of factors. Forexample, the NCC POP 142 may select a remote session browsingconfiguration based on a single factor, or may assign weights to one ormore factors in making a determination. In some embodiments, thedetermination process of the NCC POP 142 may change based on one or morefactors described above. For example, an NCC POP 142 communicating witha client computing device 102 over a network with a surplus of unusedbandwidth may give a low weight to factors such as the networkrequirements of a remote browse session, and may give a higher weight tofactors such as the latency of page interactions, while an NCC POP 142communicating with a client computing device 102 over a limitedbandwidth network may give a higher weight to factors dealing with theefficiency of the remote session browse protocol over a network.

In one embodiment, the NCC POP 142 may select a single remote sessionbrowsing configuration for a set of network content. For example, theNCC POP 142 may select a single remote session browsing configurationfor a requested network resource such as a Web page. The NCC POP 142 maythus process the Web page together with all embedded content based onthe selected remote browsing session protocol, and utilize the remotebrowsing session protocol to exchange user interaction data and updatedbrowse session data for all embedded content associated with the Webpage. In another embodiment, the NCC POP 142 may select different remotesession browsing configurations for one or more resources in a set ofnetwork content. For example, a network resource such as a Web page mayreference processing intensive embedded Javascript or CSS resources, aswell as embedded video resources. The NCC POP 142 may select a firstremote session browsing configuration for the Web page and all embeddedresources excluding the embedded video resource, and a second remotesession browsing configuration for the embedded video resource.Illustratively, this may result in the NCC POP 142 utilizing RDP to senda processing result to the client computing device 102 for display ofthe Web page and associated embedded resources, while utilizing HTTP tosend the embedded video as a separate, unprocessed file. In oneembodiment, the client computing device 102 may perform the minimalprocessing required to display the RDP processing result correspondingto the Web page and embedded resources, and may also perform additionalprocessing necessary to display the embedded video, for example,overlaying the video on top of the displayed RDP representation of theWeb page. Any number of remote session browsing configurations may beselected to correspond to any number of resources or objects included ina set of network content, regardless of whether resources or objects areobtained from a content provider 104 or CDN service provider 106 in oneor more logical files or data structures.

Although the selection of a remote session browsing configuration isillustratively depicted herein as occurring after all network resourcesand associated embedded content have been obtained by the NCC POP 142,one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the selection of aremote session browsing configuration may be performed at any time. Forexample, the NCC POP 142 may select a remote session browsingconfiguration after receiving a new browse session request or relatedinformation from the client computing device, may select a remotesession browsing configuration after obtaining a network resource, butbefore obtaining any associated embedded resources, or at any othertime. In some embodiments, the NCC POP 142 may switch to a new remotesession browsing configuration at some time subsequent to the clientcomputing device 102 obtaining an initial processing result.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 selecting a new remote session browsingconfiguration may occur automatically after a certain time period orevent or in response to a change in network conditions, NCC POP 142 orclient computing device 102 load or computing resources, or any otherfactor described above as potentially influencing the choice of remotesession browsing configuration. Illustratively, an NCC POP 142 dealingwith other types or formats of information may select a remote sessionprotocol based on any number of similar factors. For example, one ofskill in the relevant art will appreciate that a similar schema may bedeveloped for the processing of images, video, audio, databaseinformation, 3d design data, or any other file format or type of dataknown in the art.

The client computing device 102 may, in various embodiments, furtherinstantiate a parallel browsing process sequentially or simultaneouslywith the request for a remote browse session. In one embodiment, aclient computing device 102 may instantiate a traditional local browsesession as known in the art (e.g., providing content requests from thebrowser and processing obtained resources locally) in addition to one ormore remote browse instance executing at an NCC POP 142. In anotherembodiment, a client computing device 102 may be provided withunprocessed network resources by the NCC POP 142. Illustratively, thenetwork resources may have been retrieved from one or more contentproviders, CDNs, or cache components by the NCC POP 142. The resourcesmay be provided to the client computing device 102 to process locally inparallel with the remote browse instance executing at the NCC POP 142.In still further embodiments, the network computing provider or NCC POP142 may instantiate any number of new virtual machine instances and/orbrowser instances (or make use of existing instantiated instances) toprocess resources and/or send processing results to the client computingdevice 102 in parallel. Illustratively, the local browse session at theclient computing device 102 and the remote browse session instance atthe NCC POP 142 may execute in parallel.

In one embodiment, a local browse session executing at the clientcomputing device 102 may obtain unprocessed content (e.g., html Webpages, embedded content, and other network resources) from the NCC POP142 responsive to a browse session request. Illustratively, the contentmay have been retrieved by the NCC POP 142 from a content provider, CDN,or cache in response to the browse session request. The unprocessedcontent provided by the NCC POP 142 may include all the contentassociated with the browse session request or may supplement contentexisting in a cache of the client computing device, retrieved from acontent provider or CDN, or obtained from some other source. In oneembodiment, a client computing device 102 may obtain all requestedcontent from a local cache, and may not obtain any unprocessed resourcesor content from the NCC POP 142. Subsequent to obtaining the unprocessedcontent, client computing device 102 may process the requested contentin parallel with a remote browse session executing at the NCC POP 142.For example, as the local browse session executing at the clientcomputing device 102 is processing the requested content, a remotebrowse session executing at the NCC POP 142 may be processing the samecontent at substantially the same time. Once the NCC POP 142 hasperformed a set of processing actions on the content to generate aprocessing result (e.g., as specified by a determined remote sessionbrowsing configuration), the NCC POP 142 may provide the processingresult to the client computing device 102.

For the purpose of illustration, a client computing device 102 mayrequire a longer load time to obtain and process requested networkresources than a browse session instance running at the NCC POP 142. Forexample, the NCC POP 142 may obtain and process content quickly due toits position on the network and the relative processing power of thelocal client computing device as compared to the NCC POP 142. Even ifthe NCC POP 142 provides the client computing device 102 with allrequested network content, the client computing device 102 may stillobtain a processing result from NCC POP 142 before the local browsesession has fully completed processing the requested resources. Theclient computing device 102 may complete any further processing stepsand display the obtained processing result before completing localprocessing and display of the content. Illustratively, this may allowthe client computing device 102 to take advantage of an NCC POP 142'squicker content load time relative to a traditional local browsesession. Prior to the local browse session completing the processing allrequested resources, the browser may process any user interactionslocally and/or remotely as described in FIGS. 5 and 11 below.

Once the local browse session has fully obtained and processed resourcescorresponding to the requested content, the computing device 102 maydetermine whether to continue to display results obtained from the NCCPOP 142 (and process user interactions at the NCC POP 142) using thedetermined remote session browsing configuration or switch to processinguser interactions locally. Switching to process user interactionslocally may include replacing a displayed representation of therequested resources based on a processing result obtained from the NCCPOP 142 with a local display of the requested resources. For example, abrowser may display a representation of a Web page corresponding to aprocessing result from the NCC POP 142 (e.g., RDP display informationrepresenting the rendered page) until the browser is finished processingand rendering the Web page locally. The browser may then replace therepresentation from the NCC POP 142 with the locally renderedrepresentation of the Web page. Illustratively, replacing onerepresentation with another representation may be transparent to theuser. For example, the local and NCC POP 142 representations of the Webpage may be identical or substantially identical. In one embodiment,when the NCC POP 142 representation of the web page is displayed, thebrowser may send various user interactions with the displayed page tothe NCC POP 142 for processing. When the locally rendered version of theWeb page is displayed, user interactions may be processed locally at thebrowser. Illustratively, the determination of which representation ofthe requested resources to display (e.g., local or from the NCC POP 142)may be based on any of the same factors described with reference todetermining a remote session browse protocol in above.

In one embodiment, the client computing device 102 may switch toprocessing user interactions locally as soon as local resources arefully loaded. Illustratively, the remote browse session instance runningat the NCC POP 142 may be terminated after switching to localprocessing, or the remote browse session instance may be maintained as abackup in case of unresponsiveness or a failure with regards to thelocal browse session. For example, the client computing device 102 mayprocess user interactions locally, as well as sending remote userinteraction data to the NCC POP 142 in accordance with the selectedremote session browsing configuration. The remote user interaction datamay be used by the NCC POP 142 to keep the remote browse sessioninstance fully in parallel with the local browse process being executedby the browser at the client computing device 102. As long as the localbrowse session continues to handle user interactions, the NCC POP 142may either refrain from sending updated processing results, or may sendupdated processing results ignored by the client computing device 102.If a problem develops with the local browse session at the clientcomputing device 102, updated processing results may be provided to theclient computing device 102 from the NCC POP 142 for processing anddisplay in lieu of the local browse session. Illustratively, this switchfrom the local browse session to remote processing may be transparent tothe user. In some embodiments, the client computing device 102 mayswitch from a local browse session to a remote browse session instancebased on factors other than unresponsiveness or failure at the localbrowser. For example, the client computing device 102 or networkcomputing provider 107 may select between a remote and local browsesession based on any of the factors enumerated with regards todetermining a remote session browse protocol above

In another embodiment, the client computing device 102 may continue toprocess and display updated processing results from the NCC POP 142 evenafter the local browse session has fully loaded the requested content.The client computing device 102 may terminate the local browse sessionor may run the local browse session in parallel as a backup process inthe converse of the example provided above. It should be appreciatedthat although the local browse session is described here for the purposeof illustration as being slower to load than the remote browse sessioninstance, in some embodiments the local browse session may load thecontent faster than the remote browsing session, in which case thebrowser may process user interactions locally until the remote browseprocess has fully loaded the requested content. In some embodiments, theclient computing device 102 may display and process user interactionsthrough whichever browse session, local or remote, loads the requestedcontent first.

In various other embodiments, the network computing provider 107 mayinstantiate multiple remote browse session instances to run in parallelin addition to or as an alternative to instantiating a local browsesession. Illustratively, these parallel browse session instances mayutilize any of the same or different remote session browse protocols,and may act as backups in the manner described above with regard to alocal browse session, or may be used and switched between asalternatives in order to maximize browser performance at the clientcomputing device 102. For example, in response to one or more browsesession requests, the network computing provider 107 may instantiate abrowse session instance running on a first NCC POP and utilizing an RDPprotocol as well as browse session instance running on a second NCC POPutilizing an X-Windows protocol. The client computing device 102 or thenetwork computing provider 107 may determine which browse sessioninstance and protocol should be used based on performance or resourceusage considerations as described with regards to determining a remotesession browse protocol above.

With continued reference to FIG. 9, at block 918, the network computingprovider 107 may process the obtained content, including the one or morerequested network resources and embedded network resources, according tothe determined remote session browsing configuration to generate aninitial processing result. At block 920, the network computing provider107 may provide the initial processing result to the client for furtherprocessing and display in the content display area of the browser. Forthe purposes of further example, an illustrative client new browsesession interaction routine 1000 implemented by client computing device102 is described below with reference to FIG. 10. At block 922, thestart new browse session routine 900 ends.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrative of a client new browse sessioninteraction routine 1000 implemented by client computing device 102. Newbrowse session interaction routine 1000 begins at block 1002 in responseto an event or user request causing the client computing device 102 toload a browser for viewing network content. At block 1004, the clientcomputing device loads locally managed components of the browser,including all local interface components. As described above withreference to FIGS. 5 and 7, local interface components may includetoolbars, menus, buttons, or other user interface controls managed andcontrolled by the software browser application or any other processexecuting or implemented locally at the client computing device. Atblock 1006, the client computing device 102 provides a request for a newbrowse session instance to the network computing provider 107. From theperspective of the user of the client computing device, the request forthe new browse session corresponds to the intended request to transmitthe request to one or more corresponding content providers 104. In otherembodiment, the new session request may correspond to a request to loada file or other document (e.g., a request to load an image in aphoto-editing application, etc.). Illustratively, the request may begenerated automatically as a result of the browser loading (e.g., arequest for a default or “home” page), or may be generated as a resultof a user following a link or entering a network address into an addressbar. As illustrated with respect to FIG. 2, the browse session requestis transmitted first to a network computing provider 107. In anillustrative embodiment, the network computing provider 107 utilizes aregistration API to accept browse session requests from the clientcomputing device 102.

A browse session request may include any number of pieces of data orinformation including, but not limited to, information associated with auser, information associated with the client computing device 102 orsoftware on the client computing device (e.g., hardware or softwareinformation, a device physical or logical location, etc.), informationassociated with the network 108, user or browser preferences (e.g., arequested remote session browse protocol, a preference list, a decisiontree, or other information), information associated with the networkcomputing provider 107, information associated with one or more piecesof requested network content (e.g., the network address of a networkresource), etc. For example, a browse session request from the clientcomputing device 102 may include information identifying a particularclient computing device hardware specification or a hardware performancelevel, latency and bandwidth data associated with recent contentrequests, a desired security level for processing different types ofcontent, a predetermined preference list of remote session browseprotocols, and one or more network addresses corresponding to requestednetwork resources, among others. In another example, the browse sessionrequest can include information identifying a client computing device102 screen resolution, aspect ratio, or browser display area in thebrowse session request may allow the network computing provider 107 tocustomize the processing of network content for display on the clientcomputing device. As previously described, the browse session requestcan include network address information corresponding to a requestednetwork resource, which may be in any form including, but not limitedto, an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, a URL, a Media Access Control(“MAC”) address, etc. In one embodiment, the request for a new browsesession instance may correspond to the network computing providerreceiving a request for a new browse session instance at block 904 ofFIG. 9 above.

At block 1008, the client computing device 102 obtains an initialprocessing result from the network computing provider 107.Illustratively, the format and data included in the initial processingresult may vary based on the remote session browsing configurationselected by the network computing provider 107. In one embodiment, theinitial processing result may include or be preceded by data informingthe client computing device 102 of the choice of remote session browsingconfiguration and/or establishing a connection over the remote sessioncommunication protocol corresponding to the selected remote sessionbrowsing configuration. As discussed above with reference to FIGS. 8 and9, the obtained initial processing result may include requested contentwith one or more processing actions performed by the network computingprovider 107. Subsequent to obtaining the initial processing result, theclient computing device 102 may perform any remaining processing actionson the initial processing result at block 1010.

At block 1012, the client computing device 102 displays the contentcorresponding to the processed initial processing result. For example,the client computing device 102 may display the processed client in thecontent display area 702 of a browser 700 as described in FIG. 7A above.In one embodiment, the processing result may only include display datacorresponding to content displayed by a browser, and may not includedisplay data corresponding to, for example, the interface controls of abrowser instance at the NCC POP 142, the desktop of a virtual machineinstance corresponding to the browse session, or any other userinterface of the NCC POP 142. For example, the NCC POP 142 may process aWeb page and associated content for display via RDP in a browserinstance running in a virtual machine instance at the NCC POP 142. Thebrowser instance may have one or more interface elements such astoolbars, menus, scroll bars, etc., in addition to the displayed Webpage. The NCC POP 142 may send an RDP processing result corresponding tothe displayed Web page only, without any of the interface elementsassociated with the browser. Illustratively, including an RDP processingresult corresponding to the displayed Web page only may allow thebrowser at the client computing instance 102 to display the Web page byassembling the RDP processing result in the content display area of thebrowser without any further processing. In another embodiment, the RDPprocessing result may include a full virtual machine desktop and browserwindow corresponding to the full interface displayed at the NCC POP 142browse session instance. The client computing device may automaticallyidentify the area of the RDP processing result corresponding to therequested content, and may display only this area in the content displayarea of the browser.

At block 1014, the client computing device 102 processes local andremote user interactions. An illustrative routine for processing userinteractions is provided below with reference to FIG. 11. At block 1016the routine ends. Illustratively, a browse session instance instantiatedby the network computing content provider 107 may terminate when abrowser window or content display area is closed, may terminate when aremote session browse protocol is replaced by a parallel process at theclient computing device 102, or may terminate in accordance with a timeror other event. Illustratively, if a browse session has terminatedautomatically due to a time-out but has associated content stilldisplayed in a browser at the client computing device 102, laterattempts by the user to interact with the content may result in a newbrowse session request being provided to the network computing provider107 to start a new browse session according to the last state of theterminated session. Illustratively, terminating a remote browse sessionafter a time-out may allow the network computing storage provider 107 tosave computing resources at the NCC POP. In one embodiment, this processmay be transparent to the user at client computing device 102, eventhough the remote browse session has been terminated during theintervening period.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrative of a process user interactionroutine 1100 implemented by a client computing device 102. Process userinteraction routine 1100 begins at block 1102 in response to aninteraction by a user. Illustratively, process user interaction routine1100 may begin subsequent to the display of content in a content displayarea of a browser interface. For example, process user interactionroutine 1100 may correspond to block 1014 of FIG. 10 above.

Illustratively, the displayed content may have one or more interactiveelements, such as forms, buttons, animations, etc. User interaction withthese interactive elements may require processing and display of updatedcontent in the content display area. For example, selecting an elementin a drop-down menu on a Web page may require processing and may changethe configuration or visual appearance of the Web page or embeddedresources. Illustratively, the processing required by user interactionwith the displayed content may be handled as a local user interaction atthe client computing device 102 or as a remote user interaction at theNCC POP 142 depending on the remote session browsing configuration inuse. For example, if a remote session browsing configuration utilizingsubstantial local processing (e.g., sending unprocessed files overHTML), user interactions with displayed content may typically be handledas local user interactions at the client computing device 102.Illustratively, handling user interactions with displayed content aslocal user interactions at the client computing device 102 may allow forbetter responsiveness and fewer delays with simple user interactions(e.g., selection of a radio button, or typing text into a field), asinteraction data corresponding to the interaction does not need to besent to the NCC POP 142 for processing.

As a further example, if a remote session browsing configurationutilizing heavy remote processing of content (e.g., sending processedbitmap data over RDP) is being used as the remote session browsingconfiguration, all user interactions with displayed content may behandled as remote user interactions. For example, user input (e.g.,keyboard inputs and cursor positions) may be encapsulated in RDPprotocol data units and transmitted across network 108 to the NCC POP142 for processing. Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may apply the userinteractions to the network content and transmit processing resultsconsisting of updated bitmaps and interface data corresponding to anupdated representation of the content back to the client computingdevice 102. Illustratively, handling user interactions with displayedcontent as remote user interactions at the NCC POP 142 may have anegative impact on interface responsiveness, as data is required to passover the network and is limited by network latency; however, userinteractions that require a substantial amount of processing may performbetter when handled as remote user interactions, as the processinglatency of the NCC POP 142 may be substantially lower than theprocessing latency of the client computing device 102.

In addition to a content display area for displaying network content, abrowser may have one or more local interface components, such astoolbars, menus, buttons, or other user interface controls. Interactionswith local interface components may be treated as local userinteractions or remote user interactions depending on the processingrequired by the interaction and the remote session browsingconfiguration as further depicted in illustrative FIG. 7A. For example,some local interface components may be managed locally by browser coderunning on the client computing device, while other local interfacecomponents may have one or more locally managed aspects (e.g., buttonclick feedback, scroll bar redraw, etc.), and one or more remote managedaspects treated as remote user interactions (e.g., page refresh,requesting a page at an address in an address bar, etc.)

At block 1104, the client computing device 102 obtains a userinteraction from the user. This user interaction may be an interactionwith local interface components as described in FIG. 7A and above, ormay be an interaction with any interactive elements of the contentdisplayed in the content display area of the browser, such as formfields, buttons, animations, etc. User interaction with these localinterface components or interactive elements of displayed content mayrequire local and/or remote processing depending on the nature of thecomponent or element and the processing split specified by the remotesession browsing configuration as described in FIG. 7A and above. Atblock 1106, the client computing device 102 determines the interactionprocessing requirements for the obtained user interaction. At decisionblock 1108, if the user interaction has local aspects (e.g., buttonclick feedback, a change to a local browser state, a content elementbeing processed at the client computing device, etc.) the routine 1102moves to block 1110 to process the local aspect or aspects of the userinteraction at the client computing device 102 and subsequently updatethe local interface components at block 1112. Illustratively, and asdiscussed above, aspects of the interaction and updating interfacecomponents and elements locally allows a browser to provide responsiveuser interfaces and content. Subsequent to processing local aspect(s) ofthe user interaction, or if the user interaction has no local elements(e.g., a user interaction with a content element displayed in thecontent display area when using a remote session browsing configurationprocessing entirely on the server side and utilizing an RDP remotesession communication protocol) the routine 1102 moves to decision block1114. If the user interaction has remote aspects that requireprocessing, the routine 1102 moves to block 1116 and provides remoteuser interaction data to the network computing provider 107.Illustratively, in the case of a heavily server side remote sessionbrowsing configuration utilizing an RDP remote session communicationprotocol, the remote user interaction data may include input data suchas a cursor position or keyboard input encapsulated in one or more RDPprotocol data units. In some embodiments of remote session browsingconfigurations utilizing RDP or other remote session communicationprotocols, particular aspects of remote user interaction data such ascursor positions may be provided to the network computing provider 107on a continuous basis, while in other embodiments of remote sessionbrowse configurations remote user interaction data may only be providedto the network computing provider 107 when associated with a userinteraction that requires remote processing.

At block 1118, the client computing device 102 obtains an updatedprocessing result from the network computing provider 107, the networkcomputing provider 107 having processed the remote user interaction datato generate an updated representation of the content. At block 1120, theclient computing device 102 performs any additional processing requiredon the updated processing result (based on the remote session browsingconfiguration) and at block 1122 displays the updated processing resultin the content display area of the browser. At block 1124 the processuser interaction routine 1102 ends. Illustratively, the routine may beexecuted again any number of times in response to further userinteractions with the browser and displayed content.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example routine 1200 implemented by a networkcomputing provider 107 for processing network resources according tomultiple browsing configurations. Some network resources can haveportions which require varying degrees of processing. For example, somenetwork resources, such as web sites, may have several differentportions of content to be displayed on a client computing device 102 atthe same time, including separate frame or div portions, or portions oftextual content, videos, images, applets, animations, or input controls.Some portions require little processing, while other can require intensecomputational processing. The textual content can be transmitted to theclient computing device 102, and processed and displayed at the clientcomputing device 102 without a large consumption of resources, such asbandwidth, CPU processing, etc. In contrast, the video content mayrequire considerable bandwidth to deliver to the client computing device102, and considerable CPU processing once received by the clientcomputing device 102 in order to display the video content. Using twodifferent browsing configurations, one for the textual content and onefor the video content, the textual content can be delivered to theclient computing device 102 largely unprocessed, while the networkcomputing provider 107 can take over the processing of the videocontent. Such a separation of the processing can be desirable when thenetwork computing provider 107 has considerable resources available,such as CPU capacity, memory, a high-bandwidth connection with thecontent provider 104, etc. The processing of the video content by thenetwork computing provider 107 can be based on the bandwidth andhardware profile of the client computing device 102, and the networkcomputing provider 107 can stream a pre-processed display of the videoto the client computing device 102 in a resolution that is appropriatefor the bandwidth and hardware profile of the client computing device102. In some embodiments, the resolution of the video can besubstantially reduced due to the limited screen size of the clientcomputing device, etc. This can result in a performance improvement whencompared to the delivery of the raw video for processing on the clientcomputing device 102.

The routine 1200 begins at block 1202, where the network computingprovider 107 receives a request from a client computing device 102 for anetwork resource. The request can be a new request in an existingbrowsing session, the first request of a new browsing session, etc. Thenetwork computing provider 107 can be configured to execute the routine1200 in response to request. The routine 1200 then proceeds to block1204.

At block 1204, the network computing provider 107 receives informationabout the client computing device 102 making the request. Theinformation can include hardware profile information, such as screensize, CPU type, memory buffer size, etc. The information can alsoinclude a profile of the current network connection that the clientcomputing device 102 has access to, including the speed, distance fromthe network computing provider 107, etc. In some embodiments, theinformation can be received with the resource request received in block,1202. In some embodiments, the information can be received in a separatetransmission. In some embodiments, the information can be retrieved fromdata store that maintains a profile of the client computing device 102.The routine 1200 then proceeds to block 1206.

At block 1206, the network computing provider 107 can retrieve thenetwork resource requested by the client computing device 102. Forexample, the network computing provider 107 can retrieve a web site froma content provider 104, and the retrieved content can be in the form ofa file, such as an HTML file. The routine 1200 then proceeds to block1208.

At block 1208, the network computing provider 107 can determine whichportions of the network resource to process separately. For example, ifthe network resource is a web site, and the content retrieved is an HTMLfile, the network computing provider can analyze the HTML file anddetermine that separate processing should occur for each frame of theHTML file. In some embodiments, the network computing provider 107 candetermine that the HTML file should be separated into different portionsbased on criteria other than frames. For example, some HTML files embedcomputation-intensive resources, such as video and games, inline withoutthe use of frames. In such cases, the network computing provider 107 canseparate these computation-intensive portions of the web site from otherless computation-intensive resources, such as the textual portions ofthe web site. In some embodiments, the network resource itself mayinclude information about which portions to process separately. Theroutine 1200 can then proceed to block 1210.

At block 1210, the network computing provider 107 can determine theindividual browsing configurations for the multiple portions determinedin block 1208. The determination of the individual browsingconfigurations can proceed as described in detail above. In one example,the textual portion of a web site can be assigned a browsingconfiguration wherein a substantial amount of the processing occurswithin the browsing application on the client computing device 102. Thevideo portion of the web site can be assigned a different browsingconfiguration, wherein the video is processed and rendered with anappropriate codec on the network computing provider, and a remotedesktop connection display is prepared and will be streamed to theclient computing device 102 and displayed there within a frame insertedinto the web site for that purpose. Video playback controls can beincluded on the client computing device 102, so that any userinteraction with the controls will not experience the network latencythat a normal remote desktop connect may experience.

In some embodiments, the determination can be based in whole or in parton prior experience with the network resource and/or content provider104. For example, if the network computing provider 107 has processedthe requested network resource before, or one similar to the requestednetwork resource, or another network resource from the same contentprovider 104, the network computing provider 107 can utilize historicalprocessing information to assist in the determination of browsingconfigurations. In some embodiments, the network resource may includeinformation about the browsing configuration for each portion. Forexample, a web site may specify that video processing and renderingshould occur on the network computing provider 107, and rendered videodisplay should be sent to a buffer on the client computing device 102,etc.

In some embodiments, the processing actions to be performed at thenetwork computing provider 104 can include filtering one or morecomponents from the network resource. The filtered component, which canbe a component of a portion of the network resource or an entire portionof the network resource, is not executed or processed further by eitherthe network computing provider 104 or the client computing device 102,but rather is discarded or otherwise disregarded. For example, if anetwork resource, such as a web page, includes executable code, such asJavascript, that does not assist in rendering the web page but ratherexecutes other non-essential functions and may have a detrimental effecton the overall user experience, the network computing provider candiscard that component and pass the remainder of the network resource tothe client computing device 102. In some embodiments, the filtering canoccur at the client computing device 102.

At block 1212, the network computing provider 107 can begin to generateinitial processing results. In one embodiment, the network computingprovider 107 generates the initial processing resultsportion-by-portion. In some embodiments, the network computing provider107 can generate the initial processing results for some or all portionsin parallel, for example in a multi-processor computing devices or bydistributing the processing over multiple computing devices. Theprocessing of block 1212 can involve, for example, rendering videocontent, video game environments, re-sizing images, etc.

In one illustrative example, one portion of a web site includes a videogame, and that portion can be assigned a different browsingconfiguration than the rest of the web site. If the rest of the web siteis largely static, most of the processing can be performed on the clientcomputing device 102. The portion which includes the video game can havea different distribution of processing, with the network computingprovider 107 taking much more of the processing load. The user controls,which can require a high degree of responsiveness, can be assigned tothe client computing device 102. The computation-heavy portion of thevideo game, such as graphics processing, can be taken on by the networkcomputing provider 107. To reduce latency between the processing of usercontrols on the client computing device 102 and changes to the display,which is largely processed on the network computing device 107,predictive algorithms can be used by the network computing device 107 todetermine which portion of the gaming environment to process and send toa buffer on the client computing device 102. For example, if a user ismoving in a northward direction through a 3D gaming environment, thenetwork computing provider 107 can process and render the graphicalenvironment that the user will encounter if the user continuesnorthward. The processed content can be transmitted to a buffer on theclient computing device 102, and the client computing device 102 canretrieve the buffered content in a display-ready format when it isneeded, thereby avoiding any delay which may occur due to processing thegraphical content.

Many web sites have resources embedded within them, and the embeddedresources can also be assigned separate browsing configurations. Atdecision block 1214, the network computing provider 107 can determinewhether there are any embedded resources to process. If there are, theroutine 1200 can proceed to block 1216. Otherwise, execution of theroutine can proceed to decision block 1222.

At block 1216, the network computing provider 107 can retrieve anyresources to be embedded in requested network resource. For example,dynamic content can be embedded in a web site, and can require retrievalfrom the same content provider 104 or a different content provider 104.In response to retrieving the embedded resources, execution of theroutine 1200 can proceed to block 1218.

At block 1218, the network computing provider 107 can determine abrowsing configuration for the embedded resources retrieved in block1216. In some embodiments, the browsing configurations for the embeddedresources can be determined in a manner similar to the determination ofbrowsing configurations in block 1210 and with respect to previousfigures. For example, if certain processing activities associated withan embedded resource require a considerable amount of computationalresources, those activities can be performed on the network computingprovider 107, while other activities can be performed on the clientcomputing device 102. The routine 1200 can then proceed to block 1220.

At block 1220, the network computing provider 107 can generate initialprocessing results for the embedded resources retrieved in block 1216.The initial processing results can be generated by performing, on thenetwork computing device 107, the processing actions assigned to thenetwork computing device 107 in the browsing configurations determinedin block 1218. The rest of the processing actions, assigned to theclient computing device in the browsing configurations determined inblock 1218, can be skipped or ignored by the network computing provider107. The routine 1200 can then proceed to decision block 1222.

At decision block 1222, the network computing provider 107 can determinewhether there are more portions of the network resource, retrieved inblock 1206, to process. For example, a network resource may be separatedinto frames, with each frame being assigned a different browsingconfiguration in block 1210. The routine 1200 iterates through each ofthese portions, returning to block 1212 to generate an initialprocessing result according to the browsing configuration for theportion, and proceeding to decision block 1214 to determine if there areembedded resources to retrieve and process as described above. Whenthere are no more portions of the network resource to process, theroutine proceeds to block 1224, where execution terminates.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example routine 1300 implemented by a clientcomputing device 102 for receiving and processing a network resourcewith multiple browsing configurations. For example, the routine 1300 canbe executed on the client computing device 102 to process resourcesreceived from a network computing provider 107, which has retrieved andprocessed the network resource according to routine 1200. In addition, aclient computing device 102 can utilize the routine 1300 to createmetrics related to the processing and performance of the networkresources on the client computing device 102, and can send those metricsto the network computing provider 107. The network computing provider107 can utilize the metrics to adjust the browsing configurations thatit has determined for the different portions of the network resource,and can send updated processing results to the client computing device.For example, if there is unexpected latency between the client computingdevice 102 and the network computing provider 107, a remote desktopconnection between the two for display of a pre-rendered video may notbe appropriate, and instead the raw video can be sent directly to theclient computing device 102 for processing and display there. In anotherexample, the network bandwidth of the client computing device 102 mayhave improved substantially in the time since information about theclient's bandwidth was sent to the network computing provider 107. Insuch a case, it may be beneficial to the client computing device 102 toshift most of the processing of a video game or other computationallyintensive portion of a network resource to the network computing device107, and then establish a remote desktop connection between the twodevices, with the network computing provider 107 transmitting a displayof the game, and the client computing device 102 replacing the portionof the web site with a frame that can receive the display from thenetwork computing provider 107.

The routine 1300 begins at block 1302, where the client computing device102 receives a response from the network computing provider 107. Theresponse can be received in response to a request for a networkresource, such as a webs site, sent from the client computing device 102to the network computing provider 107. The response can include multipleinitial processing results, created by the network computing provider107 during execution of routine 1200 as described above. For example,the client computing device 102 may have requested a web site that hostsan online, multi-player video game. The network computing provider 107may have determined two different browsing configurations for the website, separating the portion of the web site that displays the graphicalelements of the web site from the rest of the web site, which maycontain static text and images, or may contain other interactive orcomputationally intensive portions, etc. The response received by theclient computing device 102 in block 1302 may comprise information aboutthe different browsing configurations, including information about whichprocessing activities are to be performed on the client computing device102. The response may also include a partial or complete pre-renderingof the graphical elements of the video game, along with substantiallyunprocessed textual elements for the other portion of the web site. Theroutine 1300 can then proceed to block 1304.

At block 1304, the client computing device 102 can perform processingactions, indicated by the browsing configurations received in block1302, on the portions of the network resource, embedded resources, andother assets received in response to its request. For example, thestatic textual elements of the web site may be received in anunprocessed HTML file, and the browsing application on the clientcomputing device 102 can process the HTML file for display. The portionof the web site which displays the graphical elements of the video gamemay have been replaced by a frame, and the client computing device 102may establish a remote desktop connection with the network computingprovider 107 in order stream the remote desktop display of the graphicalelements to the client computing device 102. The processing of the usercontrols of the video game—whether the controls are graphical buttons onthe web site, or the keyboard, mouse, and/or other hardwarecontrollers—can be handled by the client computing device 102 andtransmitted to the network computing provider 107 for processing withthe graphical elements, if the browsing configuration determined by thenetwork computing provider 107 specifies such a processing slit. In somebrowsing configurations, the display of graphical elements of the videogame on the client computing device 102 may not be a remote desktopdisplay, but rather a pre-rendered display processed by the networkcomputing provider 107. As described above, the network computingprovider 107 can process the graphical elements of the video game priorto the time the client computing device 102 needs to display them, byusing predictions based on, for example, the direction that the user ofthe client computing device 102 is moving through a 3D gamingenvironment, etc. The network computing provider 107 can pre-render thenext area that a user will see if the user continues on the currentheading, and the pre-rendering can be buffered on the client computingdevice 102.

At block 1306, the client computing device 102 can process userinteractions with the network resource, such as video game controls,video playback controls, distributed application tasks, and the like.For example, if the network resource is a web site hosting an onlineimage editing application, the user interactions can include mousemovements and keyboard input to process an image, etc. If one or more ofthe browsing configurations specify that the network computing provider107 is to receive the user interactions and update the image displayedon the client computing device 102, the user interactions can betransmitted to the network computing provider 107 and updated displaydata can be received by the client computing device 102. The routine1300 can then proceed to block 1308.

At block 1308, the client computing device 102 can create or updatemetrics related to the performance of the client computing device 102while processing the network resource, while processing userinteractions with the network resource, etc. For example, the metricscan include CPU utilization, available memory buffer, network bandwidth,etc. Execution of the routine 1300 can then proceed to block 1310.

At block 1310, the client computing device 102 can send the updatedmetrics to the network computing provider 107. The network computingprovider 107 may use the metrics during the processing of the portionsof the network resource that, according to the browsing configurations,occur on the network computing provider 107. Additionally, the networkcomputing provider 107 may use the metrics to adjust the browsingconfigurations, taking on more of the processing load or assigning moreof the processing load to the client computing device 102, as thecircumstances may indicate. For example, the metrics received by thenetwork computing provider 107 may indicate that the time it takes toperform certain processing actions on the client computing device 102 islonger than would otherwise be expected based on the hardwareconfiguration received by the network computing device 107 when itinitially determined the browsing configuration. In such cases, thebrowsing configuration can be modified and more processing can occur onthe network computing provider 107. The network computing provider 107can perform the additional processing, and send the newly processedportion of the network resource, along with the updated browsingconfiguration, to the client computing device 102. The routine 1300 canthen proceed to decision block 1312.

At decision block 1312, the client computing device 102 can determinewhether it has received one or more updated browsing configurations orprocessed portions of the network resource from the network computingprovider 107. If the client computing device 102 has received suchupdates, the routine 1300 can return to block 1304 for processing of thenewly received portions of the network resource according to the updatedbrowsing configurations. Otherwise, execution of the routine 1300 canreturn to block 1306, where user interactions can be processed duringthe life of the network resource on the client computing device 102.When the network resource is no longer active on the client computingdevice, for example when the browsing application is closed, the routine1300 can terminate execution.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example routine 1400 for processing of aco-browsing session, as implemented by a network computing provider 107.A specific component of the network computing provider 107 illustratedin FIG. 1 may execute the routine 1400. For example, an instance of abrowsing application on an NCC POP 142 may be configured to execute allor part of the routine 1400. The description of the routine 1400 belowillustratively uses the network computing provider 107 as the computingdevice which executes the routine 1400, but the description is not meantto be limiting and it will be appreciated than other computing devicesor components may execution the routine 1400.

The routine 1400 begins at block 1402. A client computing device 102 mayinitialize a co-browsing session by requesting a network resource. Oneor more additional client computing devices may also participate in theco-browsing session, receiving resources from the network computingdevice 102 and interacting with the resources in a way that can affectthe display or execution of the resource on the other client computingdevices 102 in the co-browsing session. For example, the networkcomputing provider 107 may receive various identifying information,including, but not limited to, device information, software browserinformation, location information, a user ID or other user information,a co-browsing session identifier, etc. from one or more of the clientcomputing devices 102 in the co-browsing session. The network computingprovider 107 may determine multiple browsing configurations,corresponding to the various portions of the requested network resourceand the various client computing devices 102. In one embodiment, thenetwork computing provider 107 can determine, for a single portion ofthe network resource, a different browsing configuration for each clientcomputing device 102.

In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may maintain oneor more persistent browse sessions associated with one or more clientcomputing devices 102. The persistent browse sessions can remain activeeven when no client computing device 102 is actively connected to thesession. For example, the persistent browse session can remain in memoryof the network computing provider 107 for lengthy processing of anetwork resource, such as a video editing operation, while a clientcomputing device 102 is disconnected. The same client computing device102 and/or one or more different client computing devices 102 canreconnect to the persistent browsing session at a later time and performadditional operations on the network resource. Illustratively, eachpersistent browse session may be associated with a different piece ofcontent, browser tab, window, frame, etc. of a browser running at aclient computing device 102 as described in FIGS. 9-13 above, and eachpiece of content may have a different browsing configuration associatedwith it. In one embodiment, each persistent browse session may beassociated with any number of same or different browsing configurations.In a further embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may select anew browsing configuration for the persistent browse session each time aclient computing device 102 accesses the persistent browsing session.For example, if a client computing device 102 with limited processingpower accesses an existing persistent browsing session, the networkcomputing provider 107 may determine one or more browsing configurationsthat allow a majority of processing to be performed at the networkcomputing provider 107, even though the persistent browsing session wasoriginally configured with different browsing configurations. Asdiscussed above, browsing configurations may be the same or differentfor each client computing device 102 associated with a co-browsingand/or persistent browsing session

At block 1404, the network computing provider 107 can generate initialprocessing results, and at block 1406 the network computing provider 107can provide the initial processing results to the one or more clientcomputing devices 102 currently connected to the co-browsing session. Insome embodiments, the initial processing results can be generatedseparately for each client computing device 102 because each clientcomputing device 102 can be associated with a different browsingconfiguration. For example, a client computing device 102 with a slownetwork connection and ample local computational resources may beassigned a browsing configuration for a portion of a network resource,such as a video file, which specifies that most processing should occuron the client computing device 102 so as to reduce latency. A secondclient computing device 102 may have a browsing configuration for thesame portion of the network resource—the same video—which specifies thatmost processing should occur at the network computing provider 107,because the second client computing device 102 has a fast networkconnection and fewer local computational resources.

In another example, a number of different client computing devices 102with different display capabilities may access a persistent browsingcontext. In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 mayprocess content associated with a persistent co-browsing sessionspecifically for display on the client computing device 102 currentlyaccessing the persistent co-browsing session. A first client computingdevice 102A may create a new persistent co-browsing session with anetwork computing provider 107. For the purposes of this specificexample, the first client computing device 102A may be a personalcomputer with a large screen, keyboard, and mouse. A user at the firstclient computing device 102 may request and receive a web site from thenetwork computing provider 107. Illustratively, the web site loaded atthe first client computing device 102A may be displayed as formatted fora large screen browse window. At a later point in time, a second clientcomputing device 102B may access the persistent co-browsing session.Illustratively, the second client computing device 102B may be a smartphone or other device with limited screen size and input capabilities.In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may determine abrowsing configuration to provide processing results to the secondclient computing device 102B in which the content associated with thepersistent co-browsing session is formatted for a small screen.

In yet another example, the persistent browsing context may beestablished by the network computing provider 104. For example, anetwork computing provider 104 may manage access to a web page with alive streaming video of an event, and the stream can be accessed by anynumber of client computing devices 102, each with different hardware anddifferent processing capabilities. The network computing provider 102can determine browsing configurations for the streaming portion—or anyother portion—of the web page dynamically, when it is accessed by aclient computing device 104, or the network computing provider 102 maypredetermine a number of browsing configurations to select from.

At block 1408, the network computing provider 107 can obtain interactiondata from the first client computing device 102. For example, theinteraction data can be a mouse click on a pause button associated witha video. The routine 1400 can then proceed to block 1410.

At block 1410, the network computing provider 107 can obtain interactiondata from the one or more other client computing devices 102 associatedwith the co-browsing session.

At block 1412, the network computing provider 107 may process anycontent and/or user interaction data and provide processing results andco-interaction data to the client computing device 102.

At block 1412, the network computing provider 107 may process anycontent and/or user interaction data and provide processing results andco-interaction data to the other client computing devices 102 associatedwith the co-browsing session. For example, the video can be paused onall devices in response to the pause command issued by the first clientcomputing device 102.

The network computing provider 107 may continue to exchange userinteraction data, processing results, and co-interaction data with theclient computing devices 102 until, at block 1416, the routine 1400ends. In one embodiment, a user may break a connection with theco-browsing session by closing a browser or powering off the clientcomputing device 102. In some embodiments, the network computingprovider 107 may place a persistent co-browsing session in a passivestate when no active interaction between the client computing device 102and the persistent browsing session is occurring. Illustratively,placing a persistent browsing session in a passive state may include,but is not limited to, closing a software browser application running onthe network computing provider 107 that is associated with thepersistent browsing session, copying, moving, or storing data associatedwith various content, content states, or browser states associated withthe persistent browsing session, etc. The network computing provider 107may place a persistent browsing session in a passive state based on anynumber of factors, including, but not limited to, a time-out ofinteraction data from the client computing device or devices 102, useroptions or preferences, an attribute of the content (e.g., size,embedded resources, content type, content category), flags or tagsassociated with the content, or preferences associated with a networkcomputing provider 107, client computing device 102, browser orapplication, operating system, CDN 106, content provider 104, or otherentity or system.

While illustrative embodiments have been disclosed and discussed, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that additional oralternative embodiments may be implemented within the spirit and scopeof the present invention. For example, the techniques described hereinmay be utilized, without departing from the scope of the presentinvention, to allow remote processing management in any number of othersoftware applications and processes, including, but not limited to,image or video editing software, database software, office productivitysoftware, 3d design software, audio and sound processing applications,etc. Additionally, although many embodiments have been indicated asillustrative, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that theillustrative embodiments do not need to be combined or implementedtogether. As such, some illustrative embodiments do not need to beutilized or implemented in accordance with scope of variations to thepresent disclosure.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y and Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is to be understood with thecontext as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may beeither X, Y or Z. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generallyintended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, atleast one of Y and at least one of Z to each be present.

Any process descriptions, elements, or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached FIGURES should beunderstood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions ofcode which include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executedout of order from that shown or discussed, including substantiallyconcurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionalityinvolved, as would be understood by those skilled in the art. It willfurther be appreciated that the data and/or components described abovemay be stored on a computer-readable medium and loaded into memory ofthe computing device using a drive mechanism associated with a computerreadable storing the computer executable components such as a CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, or network interface further, the component and/or data can beincluded in a single device or distributed in any manner. Accordingly,general purpose computing devices may be configured to implement theprocesses, algorithms, and methodology of the present disclosure withthe processing and/or execution of the various data and/or componentsdescribed above.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may bemade to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to beunderstood as being among other acceptable examples. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for remote session browsing comprisingone or more computer processors; at least one computer memory accessibleby at least one of the one or more computer processors; and anetwork-based browser application executed by the one or more computerprocessors of a network computing component, wherein the networkcomputing component is configured to at least: obtain, using thenetwork-based browser application, a web page responsive to a web pagerequest from a client-side browser application executing on a firstclient computing device separate from the network computing component,wherein the web page comprises dynamic video content; determine, basedat least partly on computing resources required to process the dynamicvideo content, a set of processing actions to be performed at thenetwork computing component to generate an interactive view of thedynamic video content; process the dynamic video content by performing,using the network-based browser application, the determined set ofprocessing actions to generate the interactive view of the dynamic videocontent; transmit, to the first client computing device and a secondclient computing device, a first processing result comprising theinteractive view of the dynamic video content; obtain, using thenetwork-based browser application, interaction data from the secondclient computing device, the interaction data regarding a userinteraction with the interactive view of the dynamic video content;determine that the interaction data regarding the user interaction withthe interactive view of the dynamic video content corresponds to aninteraction with the interactive view displayed on the second clientcomputing device; process the dynamic video content by performing, usingthe network-based browser application, at least one processing actionrelated to the interaction data to generate a modified view of thedynamic video content; and transmit, to the first client computingdevice and the second client computing device, a second processingresult comprising the modified view of the dynamic video content.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the dynamic video content corresponds to avideo, a video game, a broadcast, or an application.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the network computing component is further configuredto receive, from at least one of the first client computing device orsecond client computing device, client configuration information,wherein the client configuration information comprises at least one of ascreen size, a CPU type, or a network connection type.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the network computing component is further configuredto at least: receive a request from the first client computing deviceregarding a persistent browsing session; and generate, using thenetwork-based browser application, the persistent browsing session inwhich the web site can be accessed at a later time.
 5. Acomputer-implemented method for remote session browsing comprising: asimplemented by a network computing component comprising one or morecomputing devices configured to execute specific instructions,obtaining, from a network resource provider, a network resourceresponsive to a network resource request from a client-side browserapplication executing on a first client computing device separate fromthe network computing component, wherein the network resource comprisesdynamic content; determining, based at least partly on computingresources required to process the dynamic content at the first clientcomputing device, a set of processing actions to be performed at thenetworking computing component to generate an interactive view of thedynamic content; processing the dynamic content by performing, using anetwork-based browser application, the set of processing actions togenerate the interactive view of the dynamic video content;transmitting, to the first client computing device and a second clientcomputing device, a first processing result comprising the interactiveview of the dynamic content rendered by the network-based browserapplication; obtaining, using the network-based browser application,interaction data from the second client computing device, theinteraction data regarding a user interaction with the interactive viewof the dynamic content; processing the dynamic content by performing,using the network-based browser application, at least one processingaction related to the interaction data to generate a modified view ofthe dynamic content; and transmitting, to the first client computingdevice and the second client computing device, a second processingresult comprising the modified view of the dynamic content rendered bythe network-based browser application.
 6. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 5, wherein the interactive view of the dynamic contentis delivered to the first client computing device in connection with atleast one of a frame, div, applet, or input control.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising: processingthe network resource to obtain one or more embedded resource identifierscorresponding to one or more embedded resources associated with thenetwork resource; and obtaining the one or more embedded resources fromone or more content providers based on the one or more embedded resourceidentifiers.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, furthercomprising obtaining the network resource responsive to a browse sessionrequest made during a persistent browse session.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the set of processingactions comprises processing a video on the network computing componentto stream a remote desktop representation of the video to the firstclient computing device.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9,wherein processing the video on the network computing component includesutilizing a library of video codecs to process the video such that theclient computing device does not require codec information.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the set of processingactions comprises processing a video game on the network computingcomponent in response to determining the most likely accessed area ofthe video game.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, whereinthe set of processing actions comprises processing a video editingapplication on the network computing component.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the interaction dataregarding the user interaction with the interactive view of the dynamiccontent corresponds to a pause command.
 14. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 13, wherein the at least one processing action relatedto the interaction data comprises pausing the dynamic content inresponse to determining that the pause command corresponds to aninteraction with the interactive view displayed on the second clientcomputing device.
 15. A computer-implemented method for remote sessionbrowsing comprising: as implemented by a network computing componentcomprising one or more computing devices configured to execute specificinstructions, obtaining a network resource responsive to a networkresource request from a client-side browser application executing on afirst computing device separate from the network computing component,wherein the network resource comprises video content; determining, basedat least partly on computing resources required to process the videocontent at the first computing device, a set of processing actions to beperformed at the networking computing component to generate a view ofthe video content using a network-based browser executed by the networkcomputing component; generating a view of the video content based on aprocessing of the video content; transmitting, to the first computingdevice and a second computing device, a first processing resultcomprising the view of the video content rendered by the network-basedbrowser; obtaining, using the network-based browser, interaction dataregarding an interaction with the view of the video content; determiningthat the interaction data regarding the interaction with the view of thevideo content corresponds to an interaction with the view displayed onthe second computing device; generating a modified view of the videocontent based on a processing of the video content; and transmitting, tothe first computing device and second computing device, a secondprocessing result comprising the modified view of the dynamic contentrendered by the network-based browser.
 16. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 15, further comprising processing, using thenetwork-based browser, the network resource in response to a requestmade during a persistent browse session.
 17. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 15, wherein the set of processing actions comprisesdetermining which actions require an amount of computing resources abovea threshold.
 18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, whereinthe computing resources comprise at least one of CPU utilization, memoryavailability, or network bandwidth.
 19. The computer-implemented methodof claim 15, wherein the video content is a video, a video game, abroadcast, or a video application.
 20. The computer-implemented methodof claim 15, wherein the interaction with the view of the video contentcorresponds to pausing the video content.